Duelists of The Future, Season 1
by GateGuardian3500
Summary: I'm back with Episode 18! There is lots of surprises in this episode! I don't really wanna spoil any of them, so I won't say anything about them here. Just come read and see for yourself! This episode is great, I'm promise you!
1. Episode 01, 'The Beginning, Part 1'

Author's Notes  
  
Hello, there everybody! I am GateGuardian 3500 (male) and I have finally got around to posting a fanfic. This is my first Yu-gi-oh fanfic, so go easy on it. Please review the book, so that I can get an idea of how well you like my book. I really hope you don't flame the book if you think its bad, but constructive criticism would be just fine. As I described in the summary, Duelists of The Future (for lack of a better name) is about a cast of characters who live in the year 2033. This includes characters from Yu- gi-oh, Cardcaptors, and Pokemon. Although you may think the book is starting off a bit slow, bear with me, please, I promise this is going to be a good book. Now let's introduce the characters...  
  
#01: Yugi Moto (Yu-gi-oh) #02: Joey Wheeler (Yu-gi-oh)  
  
#03: Mai Valentine (Yu-gi-oh) #04: Tristan Taylor (Yu-gi-oh)  
  
#05: Misty Chase (Pokemon) #06: Meilin Rae (Cardcaptors)  
  
#07: Li Showron (Cardcaptors) #08: Sakura Avalon (Cardcaptors)  
  
#09: Surge W. Crusher (Pokemon) #10: Ashton Ketchum ([odd last name]Pokemon)  
  
#11: Brock Mowry (Pokemon) #12: Seto Kaiba (Yu-gi-oh) #13: Aya Kristina Corrington (Pokemon)  
  
Sorry if I dissappointed you Tea and Bakura fans, but I don't care for their characters too much. They're allright, and there's a strong possibility that I might bring Tea into the fanfic next season, but right now I don't have many ideas planned for them. Plus I don't feel like managing 15 characters, I mean, 13 characters is enough. I might kill a few of these characters to narrow down the list some, but I highly doubt it. Anyway, I would list the dueling decks of the characters too, but I don't know about a whole lot of cards, so any info about where to find some websites that list all the monsters and their attack and defense points would be greatly appreciated. Since I don't know about too many cards, you will be seeing some made up cards created to suffice. I hope their good cards, and if you see one and think it could be better named, feel free to let me know and give me some name ideas. If I like them better, I'll rename the card to the name you give me and give you full credit for it. Well, that's all I have to say, now let's get on with the two-part series premiere.  
  
Version History (I will eventually get around to re-writing all the duels in the earlier episodes and put in all real cards, but not right now. I'm trying to move forwards with the book, not backwards).  
  
1.0. First upload, Episode 01-02. 1.1. Uploaded Episode 03. 1.2. Uploaded Episode 04. 1.3. Uploaded Episode 05. 1.4. Corrected a few grammical mistakes in Episode 05 and changed the duel around a teeny bit. Renamed it to 'Challenges'. Uploaded Episode 06-07.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, or Cardcaptors, these are properties of Kids Wb, 4 Kids Entertainment, and whoever else. I'm only borrowing them for this fic.  
  
  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 01, 'The Beginning, Part 1' (11/7/2002)  
  
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Time- May 26th, 2033. School was out, and everyone was beginning to see warmer weather, which meant summer was around the corner. Everyone were getting ready for the thing that typically came with summer, warm weather, parties, vacations, family reunions, among other things. Duel Monsters was an extremely popular card game played by all sorts of kids, teenagers, and even adults. Duel Monsters was a game based on an ancient puzzle game, where people summoned forth monsters to destroy other monsters and in turn, drain the opponent of something dubbed 'life points'. Many things factored into the process of destroying the monsters, and people of all ages and sizes loved to play this new, innovative, and addictive strategy game.  
  
In the metropolitan area of Pewter City, which was known for the finest rocks and stones in the world, resided a young, fourteen year old boy named Brock Mowry. He had thirteen other brothers and sisters, six being younger than him, and seven being older. He was in the middle of them all. Brock was a fan of the ever popular Duel Monsters game, and he loved playing it with his best friend, Tristan Taylor, who was also a Duel Monster fanatic. He was wearing silver slick denim pants and a white and silver jersey. His medium brown hair was brushed into his favorite spikey hairdo. Opening his nightstand dresser, he revealed a portable Holochip Dueling system, which when activated, materialized a dueling stand (think of the arena from Champion vs. Creator 1 & 2. Cut out all the rest of the arena, and just think of where Pegasus and Kaiba were placing down cards) where a player could place their monster card onto a card reader, the reader would then read the information off the card and load a stunningly realistic holographic version of the monster using the holo emitters located on the back of the stand. These conversion chips made the game even more popular, as people was able to see their very own monsters attack the opposing monster and destroy it. Brock pulled his golden Holochip out of the nightstand drawer, along with a box, which the Holochip came in. He opened the box, and put the Holochip inside. Closing the box back, he put it away in a device called an S.C.T (subspace computer terminal which converted small items into digital subspace matter and stored it inside) which was made like a watch. He walked out of the room, heading to his friend's house which was down the street.  
  
"Hey, Brock, where are you going?" his father, Flint, asked him.  
  
"I'm going to Tristan's house. Do you need anything?" Brock asked him.  
  
"No, that's allright, go ahead. I'll manage," Flint said and sighed, slightly groaning.  
  
"Father, are you okay? Maybe you need to lie down, the doctor said that you shouldn't be up with your back and shoulder injuries and all," Brock suggested. At that moment, Brock's Wobbuffet came into the livingroom.  
  
"Hey, Wobby," Brock petted his Wobbuffet's head.  
  
"No, no, I've had enough lying down for a day," Flint made his way to the couch and sat down, turning the tv on. "You go on to your friend's house. Besides, I've got thirteen other children who can help me if I need it."  
  
"Allright, Dad. I'll be back, later," Brock said while opening the door.  
  
"Be careful, son."  
  
"Okay, bye Dad, I love you. C'mon on Wobby," Brock and Wobbuffet exited the house and Brock closed the door, sighing afterwards.  
  
"Poor Father, he hurt his back and shoulder on the job. Hopefully, he'll get better."  
  
"Wobbu wob, wobbuffet," Wobbuffet said to Brock.  
  
"You're right, Wobby, everything'll get better. Well, let's head over to Tristan's place." Brock walked down the street with Wobbuffet until he reached Tristan's house, which was a red brick two-story house. Brock knocked on the door.  
  
"Who is it?" a female voice came from the other side of the door.  
  
"It's Brock, I'm here to see Tristan."  
  
The door unlocked and opened, and Tristan's grandmother stood in the door.  
  
"Hey, there Brock, how are you? And hi there, little Wobbuffet," she rubbed Wobbuffet's head.  
  
"I'm fine. How about you, Munella?"  
  
"Oh, I'm doing great, come on in and have a seat," she offered, moving out of the way. Brock and Wobbuffet entered the home. Brock closed the door behind him and Munella locked it back.  
  
"Whatever that is cooking, it smells really wonderful," Brock commented.  
  
"Wob."  
  
"Why, thank you. Anyway, Tristan's in his room if you want to see him," Munella said.  
  
"Oh, allright, I'll see you later," Brock replied and walked up the stairs in the foyer.  
  
"Okay," Munella watched as Brock went up the stairs, then returned to the kitchen to finish cooking.  
  
Brock, with Wobbuffet, walked through the hallway until he reached Tristan's room. He opened the door and came inside, but Tristan wasn't nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Hmm, he's probably in the bathroom. Brock made his way over to Tristan's half made bed and sat down, waiting on Tristan to come out. Wobbuffet followed suit. He heard the bathtub water draining inside the bathroom. Tristan was humming a song as he came out of the bathroom dressed in his blue boxers.  
  
"Hey, Brock! What's up?" Tristan greeted.  
  
"Tristan, what's goin' on?" Brock hi-fived his best friend and gave him a hug.  
  
"How ya' doin, man?" Tristan asked.  
  
"I'm fine, and you?"  
  
"I'm cool," Tristan walked over to a mirror and began brushing his brown hair into his favorite hairdo. Being fifteen years of age, Tristan was just four months older than Brock, not a full year. Brock hadn't turned fifteen yet. "How's 'Wobby'?" Tristan asked.  
  
"Wobby's fine." There was silence for a little while, then Brock decided to start a conversation. "So, what are you planning to do this summer?"  
  
"I don't know, only time will tell. I'm meeting with a cute chick this evening though, we're going to the arcade to play a few games," Tristan answered while brushing his hair.  
  
"You are? Who's the date?"  
  
"She's a girl at school, her name is Lorelei Biel."  
  
"You mean the hot, pink-haired cheerleader?!"  
  
"Yeah, it's her."  
  
"Man, you are lucky!" Brock exclaimed. "I'd do anything to go out with her!"  
  
"You might get your chance if we don't work out, it's not like you don't have the looks," Tristan sat the brush down and flexed his muscles in the mirror.  
  
"What are you doing?" Brock wondered.  
  
"Practicing my flexes and poses so I can impress Lorelei this evening," Tristan stopped flexing and walked over to his dresser, grabbed out some blue jean shorts and a red jersey. He put the ensemble on, then rechecked himself in the mirror.  
  
"How do I look?"  
  
"Just fine," Brock answered. "So, do you want to go outside and play a game of Duel Monsters?" his eye glimmered in the light coming from the ceiling.  
  
Tristan shook his head.  
  
"Why not? I thought you loved Duel Monsters?"  
  
"I can't duel without my star card, then I'm bound to lose against you."  
  
"What happened to your star card?" Brock asked, concerned.  
  
"It got ripped to shreds by Surge and his gang," Tristan explained.  
  
"What?! That's terrible! Somebody should show that guy whose boss!" Brock was outraged. "How did this happen?"  
  
"I was coming home from the corner store yesterday when it happened..."  
  
Flashback  
  
Tristan was walking down the street, carrying a basket with a few bags resting inside. (* mean's Tristan's Voiceover)  
  
*I had been sent on an errand to the store by Grandmother to pick up a few items. I also made a stop at the local card shop to modify my deck. I was just walking along the street, humming a little song.*  
  
All of a sudden, a man and a woman jumped out of some nearby bushes and tackled Tristan to the ground. The woman restrained his hands, and the man grabbed his feet, while Tristan struggled to get free. Both of them were dressed in their traditional electric green leather suits.  
  
"Hey, get your hands off of me, let me go!!" Tristan yelled. "He..." he was about to yell for help with the woman taped his mouth, then they dragged him off behind an abandoned house. Tristan screamed as loud as he could, but the tape muffled his voice severely and no one heard him. Behind the house, they shoved Tristan to the ground. Tristan immediately jumped up and tried to kick the man, but he ducked and punched him across the face. The woman grabbed his arms and restrained him before he could do anything. Then, the man pulled out a knife and held it to Tristan's throat.  
  
"Try any cheap tricks and I'll slit your throat," the man threatened. Tristan, having never been in a situation like this before, trembled, obviously afraid. Fear showed all over his face and his breathing was heavy and nervously.  
  
"Guess who, Tristan?" Surge's voice sounded from nowhere. All of a sudden, Surge appeared out of the bushes, smirking.  
  
"Good job, Jason, Vicki," Surge hi-fived both Jason and Vicki, then stared at Tristan. Although Tristan was well built, Surge was still roughly twice his size. Tristan's height was 5'8, whereas Surge's height was 6'3. Surge also weighed well over 220 lbs, compared to Tristan's 173 lbs.  
  
Surge snatched the tape off his mouth. Tristan was about to scream, but Surge stopped him.  
  
"Scream and I'll have Jason cut your life short," he said in a deep voice. Tristan quivered in fear.  
  
*I was scared, for the first time in my entire life, I was completly scared. Restrained with a knife held to my throat, all I wanted to do was get to the safety of my house.*  
  
"Allright, Tristan, I'm not going to play around with you. You've got something I want."  
  
"And what's that?" Tristan whispered out, still trembling in fear.  
  
"Aww.. little boy's scared to death, he wants his mommy and daddy," Vicki burst out into laughter, causing Tristan to frown angrily.  
  
"You have a pretty strong Duel Monsters deck, Tristan, and there's one particular card I wish to obtain."  
  
"What's that?" Tristan looked at him coldly.  
  
Surge paused for a moment, then showed him a picture of the card. "Your Gamma Dragon, extremely rare and very powerful. It's attack strength is a whopping 4200 points. An excellent card for a deck of my caliber," Surge said.  
  
"So? You're not getting it," Tristan spat.  
  
Suddenly, Surge began choking Tristan. Tristan gagged as he tried to get some air, but could not.  
  
"I don't think you are in a position to tell anybody anything, punk," Surge continued to choke Tristan, and Tristan continued gagging and struggling to get free. But, since Vicki restrained his hands, there wasn't anything he could do but hope Surge would release his grip.  
  
"Where's the card?"  
  
"I ca... can't tell.. y... you.. an.. anything, unless... you.. s... stop... c.. cho... choking," Tristan managed to speak.  
  
Surge released his grip, and Tristan began coughing from being deprived of air for so long. He started sucking in as much oxygen as he could at one time.  
  
"Now, answer my question!" Surge's voice boomed.  
  
Tristan turned to Vicki. "I can't get to it if you're restraining me," he said, hoping she would release him and give him a chance to run.  
  
"Wait a minute, boss," Jason spoke up, "this punk kid might be doing this so he can get away, we should search him for the cards ourselves."  
  
"The cards aren't with me, I have to go get them!"  
  
"Where are the cards then?"  
  
"In an undisclosed location."  
  
Surge whacked Tristan in the face. "Where are the cards?!!"  
  
"I told you, in a secret location that I only know of!"  
  
"Allright, Jason, do your stuff!"  
  
"Allright, allright, allright! I confess."  
  
"Now, where.. are.. they?" Surge began to get impatient.  
  
"I'm not telling you anything."  
  
"Allright, Jason, slit his throat!" Surge ordered.  
  
"NOOO!! Okay, they're with me," Tristan admitted.  
  
"I knew you'd come through, search him!" Jason and Vicki searched like they were told. Sure enough, they came across Tristan's deck of cards.  
  
Surge searched through to deck until he found the card he was looking for, the Gamma Dragon.  
  
"At long last, the last Gamma Dragon," Surge said, then looked at Tristan. "Thanks for your cooperation."  
  
*At that moment, Surge tore the card into lots of tiny, pieces, destroying my best card.*  
  
Surge and the others burst out into hysterical laughter, and walked away.  
  
"See ya later, alligator!" Surge yelled and laughed hilariously along with Vicki and Jason. Tristan sunk to his knees.  
  
End Flashback  
  
Brock frowned, angry. "That nasty Surge, I should find him and pummel him!" he clenched his fists and cracked his knuckles.  
  
"No, Brock, it's too risky. Surge is bigger than both of us."  
  
"We're big enough, we can take that punk down!"  
  
"No, Brock, it's not worth it. Believe me, I was just as angry, but I've gotten over it. Now, calm down," Tristan told him.  
  
Brock inhaled deeply, then exhaled deeply. He repeated the process, calming down. "Why don't you go to the card shop and get another Gamma Dragon?"  
  
"There is only five of the cards in the whole world, Surge had four of them, I had that one."  
  
"So, why did he tear the card?"  
  
"I guess he didn't want no one else to use the card against him. Now, he's the only one with all four Gamma Dragons."  
  
Brock just sat there for a while, then looked up. "I know, why don't we call the police and tell them what happened?"  
  
"We don't have any real evidence against him."  
  
"Yes we do, the card pieces! The card pieces will have Surge's DNA and fingerprints all over them!" Brock pointed out.  
  
"You're right. The card pieces will have Surge's DNA and fingerprints on them, then he'll get arrested. I never thought of that before," Tristan walked over to his nightstand and grabbed a glove. "I have all of those pieces in my nightstand drawer." He slipped it on. "We could take them to the police station and show the cops, then they'll trace Surge's DNA and fingerprints, then arrest that bastard afterwards," Tristan said while opening the nightstand and grabbing the pieces of the card out of there. "C'mon, let's go to the station."  
  
"Whose going to drive us there?"  
  
"We'll ride our powerbikes, it's not that far away, come on!" Tristan ran out of the bedroom, followed by Brock and Wobby. Racing downstairs, Tristan opened the door. "Grandma, I'm going to the police station!"  
  
"For what?" Munella came out fo the kitchen.  
  
"This boy named Surge destroyed one of my best cards, so I'm going to the police station to show the cops, due to the fact that it's illegal to tear other duelists's cards. His DNA and fingerprints will be all over it, so he'll get nailed," Tristan explained.  
  
"Okay, but you be careful, allright, hon?"  
  
"Yes, Grandma," Tristan then walked out of the door with Brock and Wobby, of course.  
  
"Take care!" she yelled after them before they closed the door, then she went back into the kitchen to continued fixing lunch.  
  
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Meanwhile, Surge was in the middle of a duel. And he was winning it with ease. The opponent was a twelve year-old boy with black hair and blue eyes. Surge had forced the boy to duel because he possessed something his wanted, a strong monster. But so far, the boy hadn't played it yet, and Surge was beginning to wonder why. Did the boy really have a strong monster, or was he just saying that to impress his friends. Surge's life points were at 1770, and the boy's like points were 800.  
  
Surge smirked and said, "C'mon, kid, make your move!"  
  
"Okay!" the boy complied.  
  
"And make it quick!" Surge snapped.  
  
"Allright!" With only three cards in his had, he drew another card from his deck, and placed onto the red dueling table's card reader.  
  
"I call the Electric Lizard, in attack mode!" the monster came out onto the field.  
  
ATK: 1700 DEF: 1500  
  
"Ha, that's all you can do, well, get ready to be obliterated by this!" Surge drew his card and slapped in onto his green table's card reader. "The Dark Queen, in attack mode!" Surge summoned the monster.  
  
ATK: 2650 DEF: 2300  
  
"Okay, Dark Queen, use your Razor Star attack!" The Dark Queen's crown glowed and produced a razor shaped star in mid-air. Then, the star began spinning and speeding staight toward the lizard. The star sliced the lizard in half, and the lizard shattered afterwards.  
  
Boy's Life Points- 400  
  
"Allright, boss!" Vicki exclaimed. "Just one more attack and the twerp's toast!"  
  
"I give up!" the kid announced.  
  
"What?!" Surge's eyes widened.  
  
"I surrender, take any card you want," the boy told him.  
  
"Any card I want?" Surge smirked.  
  
"Any card you want," the boy confirmed while looking down at the floor, very saddened at his loss. Surge approached the boy and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He then snatched the entire deck of cards out of his hands.  
  
"I'll have'em all, punk!"  
  
"But, that's not fair, we agreed on one card!" the boy objected.  
  
"I changed my mind and the deal, I want all of your cards and I'm taking them," Surge chuckled. "Besides, you're the one who said I can have 'any card I want'."  
  
The boy looked up at him. "But I didn't mean it like that!"  
  
"Yeah, well, maybe you should've been more specific, like saying 'any one card I wanted." The boy got off the ground and began swiping at the cards, attempting to take them back. Surge was much taller than him, though, so he couldn't reach them. Surge purposely held them within reaching range, then snatched them up right when he was about to grab them. Surge laughed hard as he could at the boy's misfortune.  
  
"Fine, then. Be that way. I don't have to put up with this. I'm gonna go get the police and they'll..." the boy was cut off by Surge.  
  
"If you get the cops, I'll kill you afterwards," Surge threatened, and the boy froze in fear, then shook his head. "I won't tell."  
  
"I thought so, let's go!" Surge, along Vicki with Jason, walked away and left the boy sobbing and crying.  
  
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Domino City was the home of the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus. He resided in a private, secluded mansion, where no one has ever been before. Domino City also housed the creator of the Duel Monsters Holographic Chip technology that further popularized the addictive game. This man was Seto Kaiba. No one had ever seen the interior of his mansion, either, and two girls were about to attempt the impossible. The first girl had orangish-red hair which was shoulder-length, and it was curled. The other had deep green hair put up into a high-ponytail. The first girl was wearing white flarejean pants and a orange midriff top, and the other girl was wearing a blue jean skirt and a white tube top. They were standing outside Seto Kaiba's house.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" the first girl asked the second one.  
  
"Of course, if we manage to explore the interior of Seto Kaiba's house, we'll be popular in no time!" she responded.  
  
"But, Aya, what if we get caught?"  
  
"Chill out, Misty. Nothing's going to happen, we're not going to get caught," Aya told her best friend Misty.  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"C'mon, we've got a job to do, and it's not going to get done by lingering around," Aya said and began climbing over the gate, followed by Misty. They dropped to the ground on the other side, then slowly advanced toward the huge house. There were all sorts of bushes, hedges shaping fish and lions and other animals and flower beds decorating the front lawn, and multi- colored lights decorated the yellow and green house (yellow bricks on bottom, green roof on top). They heard chattering from a distance.  
  
"Those must be guards," Aya noted. They continuing walking down the long path, getting closer to the mysterious home and the chattering. Once they neared the house, the chattering could be heard and interpreted by now. And it was getting closer to them.  
  
"Oh, no! They're coming!" Misty exclaimed softly, then quickly grabbed Aya and dashed over to the one of the bushes, ducking behind it to avoid being detected. Peering out on the side, Misty saw two guards walking in the direction opposite the house, talking about hot female celebrities. Misty rolled her eyes, then waited until they were gone before coming out from behind the bush.  
  
"It's safe, Aya, come on," she whispered, Aya coming out. They breathed a sigh of relief, wiped their foreheads and continued on toward the door. What they didn't know was that they cross through some infrared beams while making their way towards the door, tripping a silent alarm. They began looking around for some kind of opening.  
  
"There must be some kind of window opened, or something," Misty said looking around, hoping there was a opening somewhere. They continued to search, until several guards burst out of the front door and grabbed them, then restrained them.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Aya yelled while trying to snatch away, but there were too many guards.  
  
"Allright, we got them! They fell right into our trap!" the leader exclaimed, then walked up to Misty, narrowing his eyes. "These thieves were probably trying to steal something from the great Seto Kaiba's home. Isn't that right?!"  
  
"NO!" Misty's eyes widened. Her breathing was a little heavy. "We were... uh, we came to talk to Seto Kaiba! We're his old friends from the third grade!"  
  
"No way! You girls couldn't be friends of the great Seto Kaiba! He doesn't even speak of you!"  
  
"I'm sure Seto doesn't run around telling his guards who he does and does not talk to. You don't know a thing about who he socializes with, you're just his guards! Now let us in!" Misty demanded.  
  
"We shall call him down here first, and see if you're lying, or telling the truth."  
  
"No, just take us to him, and the way he reacts to us will tell whether he knows us or not," Misty offered. The leader pondered this for a little while, then announced, "Fine. Let's go." All of them entered the house. Misty and Aya looked around, realizing that they achieved their goal, even if it would be for a little while. The mansion had a 60's retro-rave theme to it, with all sorts of tacky colored rooms and odd, colorful furniture. The retro theme was really making a comeback. The guards continued over to a teleporter tile and pushed the two girls on it, and they followed afterwards. Then, they teleporter tile activated, teleporting them upstairs. They navigated the numerous hallways until they reached the master bedroom, and behind the doors was Seto Kaiba himself. One of the guards knocked on the door.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba, there are two girls outside that wishes to see you."  
  
"Two girls?" Seto's voice said from behind the doors. "Who are they?"  
  
"They claim to be 'old friends of yours from the third grade'," the guard said.  
  
"Old friends? I don't have any old friends from the third grade."  
  
"You may not remeber us, but you will if you would open the door!!" Misty shouted to him. Seto's eyes narrowed. He didn't remeber having two 'girl' friends when he was eight years of age, but they might be someone who could help him with a problem he's having. Dressed in gray gym pants and a red t- shirt, he got up from his bed and made his way over to his mirror, giving his hair a quick brush-up.  
  
"Send them in," Seto said while sitting back down to the bed. The wooden door opened and the guards let themselves in with Misty and Aya. Seto eyes widened in surprise.  
  
"Misty? Aya? Is it really you?"  
  
"Seto!" they both exclaimed happily.  
  
"Guards, release them and leave the room at once!" Seto ordered. The guards let the two girls go and exited the room with haste, closing the door behind them.  
  
"I can't believe it, my two friends!" Seto got up from the bed and gave them both a hug. "I didn't know you lived in Domino City, I thought you still resided in Cerulean City!"  
  
"We did, we both just moved a few weeks ago!" Aya explained, happy to see her old friend after several years of being apart.  
  
"You see, my sisters got a job offer here that paid more than the job back in Cerulean City, so we moved here, and Aya's family just moved because they wanted to live somewhere else," Misty said.  
  
"Oh. Well, sit down, make yourselves comfy," Seto offered them the expensive four-poster bed to sit on, and they both sat down.  
  
"Where's your parents Seto? Misty asked him.  
  
"They're um, dead," he stated.  
  
"What?!" both Misty and Aya exclaimed in surprise.  
  
"They uh, they died in a severe car crash back in July of 2039, I was twelve years old," he confirmed, his facial expression kind of sad.  
  
"That's so terrible, my condolences," said Aya, with a sincere look on her face.  
  
"It's okay, believe me, it hurted me deeply when it first happened, and it still hurts sometimes, after all these years, but I'm over it now," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "And Misty, if I remeber correctly, you had parents way back then, so where are they now?"  
  
"They abandoned me and my sisters. We were struggling financially and they decided to get rid of me and my sisters and keep the money to themselves. We all lived in an orphange until my older sisters, Daisy, Lily, and Violet got a job and began to support us."  
  
"Um, I have an idea. Let's switch to a brighter subject," Aya suggested. "How are things going?"  
  
"Great! I'm rich, I own a corporation, I'm popular, and I'm a 'hottie' among girls, so all in all, I'd say I'm doing very good right now. I got tons of money, over six super-sized mansions, and I'm just sixteen, I know my father and mother would've been extremely proud of me."  
  
"Of course they would've been, I know I would," Aya said, chuckling.  
  
"You know there's a International Duel Monster Champoinship taking place soon, don't you?" Misty spoke up.  
  
"Yeah, they're going to interview the creator of Duel Monsters on television tonight," chimed Aya.  
  
"I know, I'm tuning in to watch it. Are you going to participate in the tournament?" Seto asked them both.  
  
"Yeah, I'm going to try," Misty said. "Do you have anything for me to suck on?"  
  
"Yeah, they're in the drawer," Seto pointed to the nightstand next to her.  
  
"Oh."  
  
The door opened and a little boy came walked inside. He looked similar to Seto, just younger and shorter. He was wearing bleach jean shorts and a orange shirt. He froze upon entering the room, then turned to Seto.  
  
"Brother, who are these people?"  
  
"They are my old friends, Aya and Misty. Aya, Misty, please meet my little brother, Mokuba Kaiba," announced Seto.  
  
"You have a little brother?!" Aya was surprised. Misty appraoched Mokuba.  
  
"Well, hi there, how are you?" she greeted in a kind, sweet voice.  
  
"I'm fine, how about you?  
  
"I'm doing good. Pleased to meet you," she offered her hand, and Mokuba shook it, grinning.  
  
Seto walked over to the boy. "What did you want, Mokuba?"  
  
"I wanted to know if there was any ice cream left."  
  
"Sure there is, just find Kristy and ask her to get you some, she'll fix it," Seto told him.  
  
"Okay, nice meeting the both of you," Mokuba said and waved to them while walking toward the door. They waved back and watched him leave the room, shutting the door behind him.  
  
"I didn't know you had a little brother, Seto, he's cute," Misty spoke while sitting back on the bed.  
  
"Yeah, and he's really nice too," Aya added.  
  
Seto smiled and seated himself on the floor. He then grabbed a remote and pressed a button. The wall opposite of the bed and Seto opened up, and a huge, 160 inch plasma tv came out of the wall. Misty and Aya's eyes were bucked in amazement. Seto then turned the tv on, and a sci-fi movie appeared on the screen.  
  
"Whoa! Seto, that's a huge tv!" Aya commented. "You must've paid a fortune to buy it."  
  
"Actually, it was nothing for me to buy, look at all the money I have. It's not even the biggest tv anyway." Misty and Aya couldn't comment. All of them began to watch the movie together.  
  
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Brock and Tristan, along with the Wobbuffet, rode down the sidewalk on the powerbikes. The electric motor inside moved the bikes along. They were headed for the police station in the center of their neighborhood. Tristan hoped there was someway he could get the card back, not only was it a very rare card, but it was the card his grandfather gave to him before he died. His grandmother told him that he said Tristan was his favorite and most loyal grandson, and therefore he felt Tristan was worthy enough to have it. The card was special to him because it was the only thing that was left of his granddad. Tristan hoped that they could send it to Industial Illusions and have them patch the card back together. They continued along until they reached the police station. They parked the bikes and shut them off, then climbed off and walked inside the police station. Opening the door, they followed the directions to the Sheriff's office. Tristan was about to knock on the door when a police officer stopped him.  
  
"Excuse me, what are you doing?" he asked them.  
  
"Uh, we need to see the Sheriff, please," Tristan told him.  
  
The police officer casually walked over to the door and opened it, allowing passage for the boys. "Hey, Sheriff, these two boys said they needed to see you."  
  
"Well, by all means, let'em in," the sheriff ordered, turning his chair around from the desk to face Tristan, Brock and Wobbuffet. He motioned for the officer to leave, and the officer complied obediently.  
  
The sheriff was a middle-aged man, around forty-nine years of age. He was balding a little on the top of his head, and there was lots of gray strands beginning to appear in his blue hair. He was still in shape, and still retained quite a muscular body for being almost half a century old. Two golden chains hung around his neck, along with an expensive golden watch wrapped around his wrist. He was wearing a gold-plated belt on his waist, and the words 'Sheriff Robert J. Crusher' was carved into the belt. He was wearing a black police chief suit. "Well, hello there," he smiled, and offered a can of soda, but they declined the offer.  
  
"What brings you two to my office, today?" Robert asked them.  
  
"Well, Sheriff, uh..." Before Tristan could finish, Robert cut him off.  
  
"Please, just call me Robert, forget the title."  
  
"Okay, Robert. Anyway, I'd like to report a stolen item," Tristan began.  
  
"A stolen item?"  
  
"Yeah, it was taken from me from two weeks ago. Well, actually, it wasn't stolen, but was uh, broken."  
  
"What do you mean?" Robert took a sip from a bottle of orange soda.  
  
"Well, there's this neighborhood gang, they don't have a name yet, but uh, the boss is a guy named Surge Crusher, he looks like this," Tristan showed Robert a picture of Surge.  
  
[My son?] Robert mused to himself.  
  
"He held me in a life threating situtation and forced me to give up one of my Duel Monster cards, I'm sure you've heard about Duel Monsters, right?"  
  
Robert nodded and motioned for Tristan to continued with the story.  
  
"Anyway, it was an extremely rare card hardly no one has, so he forced me to give it to him unless I wanted my throat to get slashed. I gave him the card and he destroyed it, and he left along with his friends. I have proof that he tore the card," Tristan explained to the Sheriff.  
  
"And, what might that be, hunh?"  
  
Tristan presented the card pieces to him. "Right here, they are the pieces of the card he destroyed, you can analyze them for his DNA traces and fingerprints, and you'll find them on the card."  
  
Robert took the card fragments and got up out of the chair. "I'll have someone analyze these card fragments, and see if you're really telling the truth or not," he said then motioned for Tristan to follow him.  
  
Exiting out of the room, Robert walked down the hallway, followed by Tristan, Brock, and Wobbuffet. Once they reached the Coroner's Office, Robert opened the door, sauntering inside the room. Tristan follow the sheriff inside. Brock had to stay outside because no kind of wildlife species were allowed in the room, for fear that they might break something important.  
  
"Hey, Stacey, this boy here claims that a Surge W. Crusher destroyed something of his, I want to analyze the object for traces of Surge's DNA."  
  
"Okay, what is it that Surge destroyed?" the woman asked Tristan. She was around thirty years of age, had pink hair did into an updo, and she was wearing a black dress with a white lab coat. She slipped on a white glove and received the broken card fragments from Robert.  
  
"It was a Duel Monsters card," Tristan confirmed. The woman then walked over to an analyzing table and layed the pieces on it, preparing to scan the fragments.  
  
"This'll only take about a minute or two, I'll tell you the results when they ready," she said to the Sheriff, who nodded and left the room with Tristan. Tristan sat down on the bench next to Brock and Wobbuffet. Finally, Surge was about to be brought down.  
  
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Back in Domino City, in the neighborhood of Southside Springs, there was a home which was shaped like a huge pill. It was a two story purple house, dark purple on the bottom, and light purple on the top. Lots of weird shaped windows covered the house, and upstairs in one of the bathrooms, a boy suddenly emerged out of a pool of water. He was sitting inside a whirlpool tub. He had golden blonde hair, and black eyes. He sighed, and decided that he had bathed enough. He climbed out of the tub, and the reflection of his naked body could be seen in a mirror on the wall. He reached down and pulled the drain pipe, which drained the water out of the bathtub. He yawned, then decided that it was time for his afternoon snack. He then reached over to grabbed some clothes, but they weren't in the bathroom. The boy realized that he left the clothes in the room and bonked his head.  
  
"Great move, Joey," he muttered to himself, making a face. He slowly opened the bathroom door, then looked both way down the hallway to see if anyone was there. He didn't see anyone, so he manuevered out of the door and walked down the hallway briskly, hoping that no one would see him naked in the hallway. He tried his best to minimize the footsteps sounds made when he was walking. Finally, after what seemed like a long time to him, he reached his bedroom. Joey quickly opened the door, being careful not to make any noise. His sister had been waiting on him to come out of the bathroom to talk to him, and he didn't want her coming to talk to him, and in turn, seeing him butt naked. He quickly thrusted himself inside his bedroom, and shut the door behind him. Sighing and wiping his forehead, Joey made his way through his blue and white room, which was junky, and reached the dresser. He opened up and grabbed some black boxers, red jogging pants and a white t-shirt. He slipped the clothes on, then closed the dresser and started the long process of tidying his room up. It didn't take him too long, it was mainly his bed, nightstand, and desk that was messed up. After he cleaned the mess up, he heard a knock on the door downstairs. Joey quickly exited the room and bolted down the hallway, running as fast as his legs could carry him. He raced to the first floor and reached the door, looking out of a peephole. It was his best friend Yugi Moto. He opened the door, smiling.  
  
"Hey, Yugi!" he greeted and gave his friend a hug.  
  
"Hello there, Joey. How are you?" Yugi asked him after they stopped hugging.  
  
"Everything's cool. My Dad is gone on a romatic getway with his girlfriend for the rest of this week, and my little sister's leaving to go spend the week with my Grandparents as soon as they come get her, so I pretty much got the entire house all to myself!" Joey laughed, then made some room for Yugi to come in.  
  
Yugi walked inside, wearing his blue school uniform. His Millenium Puzzle hung from around his neck, and his yellow-red-black hair was brushed into the usual wild hairdo.  
  
"What are you doing wearing that?!"  
  
"All my clothes need cleaning, this was the only thing I had left to wear," replied Yugi.  
  
"Did you bring everything?"  
  
"Yeah, I brought everything I needed to make my stay comfortable. I just love this S.C.T, it made packing really quick and simple, and I didn't have to lug anything around."  
  
"S.C.Ts are one of the greatest inventions ever!" Joey closed the door behind him and locked it.  
  
"Um, do you mind if I use your cleaner?" Yugi said.  
  
"Just keep straight forward into the living room. On your right there should be a door, that's a laundryroom," Joey said, then headed off to the kitchen to grab some snacks. Yugi headed off to the laundryroom to clean his clothes.  
  
Later on, both of them were upstairs watching tv while eating potato chips.  
  
"Hey, guess what Joey? I made the Honor Roll Achievement in school this year," Yugi boasted, proud of his accomplishment.  
  
"Good going, Yuge," Joey commented, biting numerous chips.  
  
Yugi chewed a lot of chips then swallowed them. "Do you want to play a duel? It don't have to be fancy, just a regular old duel."  
  
"Well since there's nothing really on tv to watch, I'm up for it. Yugi, when did Tea say she was coming over?"  
  
"She said she'd be here in 1500 hours (equivalent to 3:00 pm), give her time."  
  
"But, Yugi, its 1543 hours," Joey told him.  
  
"Tea's late? It's not like her to be late, especially when we're having a sleep over. She's usually the first one to arrive."  
  
"I hope she comes, it's fun having her around," Joey stuffed a whole lots of chips into his mouth and swallowed it. "But, if she don't show, I won't have to give up my bed," he laughed, and Yugi laughed along with him.  
  
"Let's start the duel," Yugi accessed his S.C.T and scrolled down a list. When he reached "Duel Monsters Deck', he pressed the 'send' button. Then, the cards appeared out of thin air. Yugi grabbed them, and sat them on the floor. Joey took his out of his dresser and counted them to make sure they were all there. After they set up the playing field, Yugi and Joey played a simple game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first. Joey won, meaning he got the first move.  
  
"Excellent!" he exclaimed, then drew his first card and was about to place it when a knock came on the door. He sighed, dumbfounded. "Just when we were starting the duel..." he muttered.  
  
"Joey, that's probably Tea!" Yugi reminded him, and Joey quickly stumbled to his feet, dashed out the room and through the hallway, down to the first floor, and ran like it was the end of the world until he reached the door. He snatched it open, and to his surprise it wasn't Tea, but instead it was some woman standing there. She had jet black hair, which extended down to her mid-back. Her eyes were brown, and she was wearing a black leather dress, with a golden braclet around one of her wrists.  
  
"Uh, who are you?" he asked, then suddenly her eyes glowed yellow and she spoke in a deep, monotonous voice.  
  
"You will come with me."  
  
Joey's eyes bucked open in fear as he was suddenly snatched out of the foyer by an unseen force. "Hey, what are you doing?! Actually, what are you?!!" he demanded, but she wouldn't answer. Her eyes turned green, and Joey began to feel like he was getting choked, but no one was choking. He gagged for air and gripped his throat, then tried to run back into the house. The girl grabbed him and flung him to the ground, then Joey kicked her in the stomach, making her bend over in pain. The psychic choking force was released, and Joey coughed for air while getting off the ground. He decided that he should flee, and began sprinting away as fast as he could, but was stopped by the psychic force. It reared him back into the wall, then the woman hit him across the head with a crowbar, knocking him out. She smirked, then grabbed Joey and dragged him into the house.  
  
"Joey, is that Tea?" Yugi asked, but no one answered. "Joey? Joey, is Tea outside?!" he called out louder, but still got no response.  
  
Confused, Yugi got off the floor and walked towards the door, calling out to Joey. "Joey?! Joey?!!" Joey, where are you?!!" he yelled, but Joey didn't say anything. "Joey?" Yugi walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He creeped down the hallway, looking around. Where could Joey be? He was probably just playing another horror prank. Joey enjoyed scaring him. Yugi continued through the hallway and walked down to the first floor. The door was wide open, and Joey was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Joey!!" Yugi was getting tired of this game.  
  
"Hey, Yugi, I'm in the den!" shouted Joey's voice.  
  
Yugi sighed. There wasn't anything wrong. Yugi closed the door and beagn walking toward the den. "Hey, Joey? Why'd you leave the door wide open?"  
  
"I... I, uh, forgot to close it. I was trying to catch this food before it burnt," Joey chuckled.  
  
"What food? You weren't cooking anything."  
  
"I just started cooking something," Joey laughed uneasily.  
  
Yugi knew Joey did the strangest of things sometimes, so he dropped the subject and entered the den to find Joey unconscious hanging on the wall, restrained by some weird goo looking stuff. A woman was standing beside him, smirking.  
  
"Wh.. who are you? What have you done to Joey?!" Yugi demanded, sensing some foul play.  
  
"That answer is unnecessary," she stated in a montonous voice.  
  
"What are you doing here? Who are you?"  
  
"That doesn't matter," she said, then whipped out a deck of Duel Monsters cards. "Duel me unless you want deadly harm to come to your... friend," she said evily.  
  
"No, don't hurt Joey! Let him go, right now!!"  
  
"I don't think you're in any position to demanded anything." She approached Joey, then pulled out a metal stake. "This will be pressing through his torso if you don't duel me."  
  
"Why are you being so violent over a duel? You could've asked nicely," Yugi remarked with a frowned expression on his face.  
  
"Not just any duel, a duel for your Millenium Puzzle."  
  
"My puzzle? You're not getting your hands on this!" Yugi snapped, then the puzzle began glowing, and Yugi allowed his alter ego Yami Yugi to take over. He transformed, then looked up, glaring at her.  
  
"Foxxia... what are you doing here?"  
  
"Yami?! What a pleasant surprise!" Foxxia exclaimed, obviously surprised. Seeing Yami's face snapped her out of her monotonous mood. "I thought I'd never see you again!"  
  
"Believe me, you won't," he stated in a dark tone.  
  
"What was that? You still don't believe I won't harm little Joey, don't you?"  
  
Joey slowly began gaining consciousness.  
  
"Leave the kid outta this!! Let's just settle this feud once and for all, you vs me," Yami Yugi clenched the dueling deck tightly.  
  
"Hmm... how about this, you get Joey back if you win, and if I win, that puzzle become mine."  
  
"What if I decline this deal?"  
  
"I guess Joey'll pay for it," she brought the knife closer to Joey's face, bumping his forehead.  
  
"Allright! Deal, now let's get this over with!" Yami accessed the S.C.T and sent the chip out of it. He grabbed it, set it on the floor, and pressed the button, turning it into a cyan dueling table. Foxxia's white dueling table was opposite of his.  
  
"Let's duel!" they yelled and their life points rose to 2000.  
  
"Now, how are we going to decide who gets to go first fairly?"  
  
"I think I know how, I'll just make the first move," Yami snapped.  
  
"NO! We are not going to do that," Foxxia's eyes rested on the tv and her lips curved into a smile. "I know, we'll both guess a channel number the tv could be on. The person who picks the closer number get to go first."  
  
"What? That's absurd!" Yami scoffed.  
  
"But, it's fair."  
  
"35," Yami guessed.  
  
"57," she said and grabbed the nearby remote, then turned it on. The tv appeared on channel 40, meaning Yami was closer.  
  
"I get to go first," Yami drew five cards from his deck and chose one.  
  
"Hey Yugi, kick that cow's butt!" Joey encouraged him, and Yami nodded.  
  
"And I'll start with this, the Feral Imp, in attack mode!" Yami slammed the card down onto the reader, summoning his monster onto the field.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1200  
  
"And I'm combining it with the Horn of the Unicorn, which raises his attack power 300 points," Yami slammed the magic card down, which applied it into battle.  
  
Foxxia smirked. "Well, Yami, I see you're making a pretty strong opening move. But how will it fare to this?" she placed the card down and loaded it into the duel; The card being Saggi the Dark Clown.  
  
ATK: 600 DEF: 1500  
  
"Saggi the Dark Clown? That card's attack power is much weaker than my card's attack power," Yami said, a little confused by Foxxia's play.  
  
"Right now, it may be weaker, but when I add the Negative Energy card watch what happens," Foxxia placed this card down and multiplied Saggi's attack power 3 times stronger, making it 1800.  
  
Yami gasped, then Foxxia ordered the strike. "Go, Saggi! Negative Energy Blast!" Saggi forged a blue energyball in its hands, then lifted it up into the air and tossed it into the Feral Imp, the monster phasing into a weird, morphing effect, then it vanished.  
  
Yami Yugi's Life Points- 1700  
  
"C'mon, Yugi, you can do this!! With that all-star deck of yours, you'll wipe the floor with her in no time!!" Joey yelled, giving Yami the determination needed to win the duel. Yami drew the next card from his deck, smiling.  
  
"Allright, Foxxia, deal with this card!" he slapped it down, summoning it to the field. "Curse of Dragon, in attack mode!"  
  
ATK: 2200 DEF: 2000  
  
"And I'll lay down another card for later. Curse of Dragon, roast that clown to a sinch!!" Yami yelled, and his monster complied by pouring out a powerful beam of fire aimed at Saggi.  
  
"YAAHHH!!!" Saggi screamed as the fire torched the clown into ashes.  
  
Foxxia's Life Points- 1600  
  
"Take that, Foxxia!" Yami snapped angrily.  
  
Foxxia laughed heartily, beginning to toy with Yugi's alter ego.  
  
"What's so funny?" Yami asked.  
  
"You really think you've done somthing just because you beat Saggi? Please, that monster wasn't even strong enough to be classified as my warmup," she said and drew a card out of her hand. "Hmm... I wonder how you'll deal with this, the Serpent of the Night, in attack mode!" Foxxia summoned her monster onto the field.  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 2300  
  
"Attack with the deadly Acid Ball attack!" The serpent roared and spit out a ball of acid straight at the Curse of Dragon. Right before it struck, Yami flashed a surprise card that was waiting.  
  
"Sorry, Foxxia, but the Burning Land magic card increases my Curse of Dragon's attack power by 300 points, making it stronger than your serpent!"  
  
ATK: 2500  
  
"Oh, no!" she screamed as the acid ball bounced off Yami's monster.  
  
"Go Curse of Dragon, Burning Land attack!" Yami snapped. His monster poured out a large beam of fire and cooked the serpent to a crisp.  
  
Foxxia's Life Points- 1200  
  
"My serpent..." she began, but was interrupted my Yami.  
  
"...Is no more," he smirked, then said, "I believe it is my turn now." He drew two cards from his hand. "My next card is Gaia the Fierce Knight, and I'm using the magic of polymerization to fuse these two cards into the mighty Gaia, The Dragon Champion!!" Yami slammed these card down and watched as the two monsters became one known as Gaia, Dragon Champion.  
  
ATK: 2700 DEF: 2400  
  
"Allright, Yuge!" Joey cheered him on.  
  
"And my last card shall be played face-down," Yami placed it onto the field.  
  
Foxxia snarled, intimidated by the smirk on Yami's face. "You think you have this won, but you don't. I'm just simply toying with you. Letting you defeat my monsters so you can think you're winning. But, Yami, my monster deck contains a monstrosity that none of your creatures will be able to handle," she smiled while staring into Yami's violet eyes.  
  
"Just make your move so I can defeat you once and for all," said Yami.  
  
Foxxia drew a card and her smile widened. "How do you think Gaia, The Dragon Champion will hold up against this?" she revealed the card to Yami. It turned out to be a Blue Eyes White Dragon!  
  
"A Blue Eyes White Dragon?! But there's only four of 'em in the world!! The world champion has 3, and your grandpa has the 4th one! How is this possible?!!" exclaimed a surprised Joey.  
  
"Anything's possible, baby," Foxxia said and slapped the card down onto the reader, summoning the mighty monster.  
  
ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500  
  
"That's your monstrosity?" Yami sneered, obviously not afraid.  
  
"It's one of them. Blue Eyes White Dragon, destroy the opposing monster with White Lightning attack!" Foxxia screamed. The Blue Eyes White Dragon roared and prepared to attack when Yami flipped up the face-down card.  
  
"Not so fast, Foxxia! The Spellbinding Circle stops your monster from making any kind of attack indefinitely. And that's not all, it also lowers the attack power of any creature down 700 points!"  
  
ATK: 2300  
  
"Good move, Yugi, keep it up!" Joey encouraged.  
  
"Gaia, destroy that monster!!" The creature rose to the air and attacked the dragon with a large beam fire, which fried it to oblivion.  
  
Foxxia's Life Points- 700  
  
Although she was low on life points, and she lost a extremely powerful card, Foxxia began to laugh heartily. Yami's smirk and happy face turned into a frown and baffled expression.  
  
"What's so funny now?"  
  
"Yami boy, you haven't learned yet that Foxxia likes to toy with people. Make them think they're winning when they are not," Foxxia chuckled. She stared straight into Yami's eyes coldly. "Have you not forgotten our Shadow Games in the shadow realm? You always thought you were winning, until I drew my big bad monsters."  
  
"Make a move!" quipped Yami, getting intimidated.  
  
"Okay," she said playfully then reached over and drew a card. "Ha! Here's the start of your descension to failure and my ascension to victory!" she slammed the card down and loaded it onto the field. "Say hello to Mercury X!" Mercury X was a big pool of mercury shaped into a remotely human shape. It had cold, white eyes, no ears, and its feet were webbed.  
  
ATK: 3500 DEF: 3200  
  
"Mercury X? But that's one of the more powerful and rarer cards, how'd you get one?" Yami frowned.  
  
"How I got it doesn't matter. What matters is that I got it and there is nothing in your deck that can stop it..."  
  
  
  
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Is it good so far? Interested? Continue on to the conclusion of the episode and see what else happens. 


	2. Episode 02, 'The Beginning, Part 2'

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, or Cardcaptors, these are properties of Kids Wb, 4 Kids Entertainment, and whoever else. I'm only borrowing them.  
  
Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 02, 'The Beginning, Part 2'  
  
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The time was 1555 hours. The date, May 26th, 2033. All of the Duel Monsters fans prepared themselves for an exciting interview which was to tell details about an international Duel Monsters tournament. Up in a tall skyscraper located in downtown Domino City, a woman was preparing herself for the interview, which was to be aired at 1600 hours. She was dressed in a cinnamon knee-length dress. Her blue, crinkled hair flowed down to her upperback. She checked herself in a mirror, then grabbed some eyeliner and applied it around her blue eyes. She put the makeup back up and checked herself once more, making sure she was perfect. The interview with game creator Maximillion Pegasus was to be airing in about 5 minutes and she had to be absolutely stunning. Satisfied with her look, she seated herself in a egg-shaped chair and waited for the 5 minutes to passed. (Once they did) The door opened and 10 heavily built bodyguards walked into the room, dressed in jet black suits. They lined themselves up into two lines of five, and stood adjacent to the door. Then, the Duel Monsters creator himself walked through the doorway, his platinum hair in its usual hairstyle. He was wearing gold suit and was tricked out wih all sorts of diamond chains, rings, and other types of jewelry. A jazzy but mystical sounding fanfare announced his presence. A nearby worker slid out a chair and Maximillion seated himself. Turning the mike towards her mouth, the woman began speaking.  
  
"Hello out there, everybody! Clair Cox live hosting the interview with the famed Maximillion Pegasus!" she announced.  
  
"Greetings, everyone. I am Maximillion Pegasus," he spoke, letting himself be known.  
  
The interview was now underway. Clair cleared her throat and started reading off her list of questions. "So, how are you, Mr. Pegasus?"  
  
"I am fine, thank you. How are you?"  
  
"Oh, I'm great," Clair laughed and Pegasus grinned. "Now, tell me, where did you get the idea of such an interesting, creative, and addictive game? I mean, it's never been done before, what compelled you to try it?" she asked, wondering why herself.  
  
"Um, which question you want me to answer, the 1st, or the 2nd?" he joked.  
  
Clair chuckled and replied, "Answer them in the order I asked them, simple."  
  
"Allright," he said, adjusting the mike to pick up his voice from his new position. "Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't think of the whole idea all by myself, I had a bit of ancient help. You see, I like to read about ancient legends and old fables and folktales. It's something really enjoy. But anyway, I was skimming across a book full of old myths and I ran across something about an old card-type game that use to be played back in the times of ancient Egypt. It was called the 'Shadow Game', a game where you summon forth monsters of great power and destruction and use them to destroy the opposing monster. I was so intrigued by the idea that I decided to try and dig up more information about this strange game. I scoured through all sorts of old books in my personal library, trying to find as much as I could about it. But, I didn't find too much, just some vague references about what it was about and how it was played. But, that was enough info for a genius like me to work with! I immediately kicked my brain into what I like to call, 'creative mode', and began thinking of ways to create an exciting, brand new, never before seen type of game. Which I did! I After about a year of hard work, I brought the game known as 'Duel Monsters' into the world. What made me even start thinking about designing something like this is because I wanted to make something different for a change, instead of just creating videogame after videogame after videogame. At first, I thought it was going to flop, clearly the gaming market is dominated by fancy electronic video games, just how good can a relatively simple card game do when there are so many more advanced games out on the market? I was surprised that this game sold out so well!" Maximillion finished his long, over-descriptive speech.  
  
Clair could tell that this man had a tendency to run off at the mouth and boast about himself. "So, what made you want to turn it into a visual cardgame? I thought you were growing tired of designing videogames."  
  
"Well, a visual cardgame was something no one had ever done before. Besides, it's not exactly 'videogamish', if you want to put it that way. And turning it into a visual game further increased popularity and sales, so it was a very good move," Maximillon told her.  
  
Clair cleared her throat. "Excuse me. Now, rumor has it that your releasing even more sets of Duel Monsters cards, is that true?"  
  
"I tried to keep it a secret, but some noisy reporter just couldn't keep his nose away from my factory, and I guess he saw us making copies of new Duel Monsters cards, ran out and spilled the beans. Yes, we're making new Duel Monsters card. 6 more, in fact, bringing the total out to a whopping 10 sets! And since 700 cards are in each set, multiply that by 6 and you get 4,200 new Duel Monsters!"  
  
"Wow!" Clair exclaimed. "That's a lot of cards, can you tell us when they will be shipping?"  
  
"Tommorow, all of the new sets ship out to join the current cards on the shelves," Maximillion confirmed.  
  
"Okay. Now, Mr. Pegasus..."  
  
"Please, just call me Pegasus, that's how everyone adresses me."  
  
"Okay, Pegasus, rumor also has it that a huge tournament is going to be hosted, am I right?"  
  
"Yes, you're correct. There will be a new tournament and I'm going to host it."  
  
"You are? Where and when will this exciting new tournament take place?"  
  
Maximillion cleared his throat and continued speaking. "Oh, well the tournament itself will be split into two different sections."  
  
"How will a contestant compete in the championship?"  
  
"Well, first a duelist is going to have to sign in to be able to participate in the sub-competition. All they have to do in simply e-mail a letter which tell me they want to compete," he explained.  
  
"Now, you mentioned something about this contest being split into 2 sections, tell me what that's about. And what is the 'sub-competition'?"  
  
"The first section is the sub-competition, and the sub-competition is simply a little dueling contest to weed out all the weak and feeble duelists, so that the real tournament will consist of nothing but strong, competitive duelists who will stop at nothing to prevail. We are going to transport the duelists to a tropic, uninhabited island where they will spend the days and nights trying to reach a goal which will gain them entry to the real shindig. Now, each duelist participating in the Emerald Island contest will be given two stars. The goal is to obtain fifteen stars before two months pass, without losing your stars to other duelists. If you can successfully get the fifteen stars in two months time, you will then be capable of registering yourself into the main tournament on the Crystal Kingdom and compete for the main prizes there. Any duelists who loses all their stars, or does not have fifteen stars before the two months pass will be taken back to wherever they came from. By doing this, I am insured that no weak, stupid duelists shall have a chance to battle in my championship."  
  
"It seems as though you're fishing for strong duelists," Clair noted and Maximillon nodded.  
  
"Indeed, I am."  
  
"Now, can you tell me what kind of prizes the duelists can expect, should they win the tournament?"  
  
"In order to win any prizes you must either win the tournament, or place among the top three performing duelists that competed in the championship. If you win, you're automatically placed number one and will win 100 million dollars!" Maximillion announced, and Clair's mouth gaped open.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Meanwhile, Misty and Aya's eyes widened.  
  
"Did he say 100 million dollars?" Misty spoke, turning to Aya.  
  
"He said it. Wow, that's alot of money!" Aya exclaimed, but Seto was hardly phased.  
  
"Please, that's chump change!" Seto shrugged.  
  
"Well, that's easy for you to say, you're the one living large, we're not," Misty said and turned back to face the tv.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
In the Pewter City police station, one of the tvs were on the channel the interview was being broadcasted on. Brock and Tristan's eyes bucked open and their mouths dropped in awe.  
  
"Man, that's a whole lot of cash!" Brock yelled, but Tristan was too awed to say anything.  
  
"Imagine, with all that money, we could have tons of things, huge houses, everything!"  
  
"Yeah," Tristan spoke. "You know what? I'm going to enter this tournament."  
  
"So am I, with 100 million dollars, I could get on of those expensive back operations done on my father and he'd be back to himself in no time. I've gotta enter that tournament."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
"Second place duelists will receive 75 million dollars, and third place duelists will obtain 50 million dollars."  
  
"Wow, that is a ton of money to win. Will there be any other prizes the competing duelists can receive?"  
  
"Well, they can win some extra rare monsters, or some fine, expensive jewelry, but that's about it. The main prizes are the 100, 75, and 50 million dollars that are up for grabs."  
  
"Well, where will the tournament take place?" asked Clair.  
  
"The tournament is going to take place on the Crystal Kingdom, known for some of the cleanest, crispest air found in the world. Expensive resorts, state-of-the-art spas and hottubs, stellar fruits and food, and lots of entertaining things will be found here. And you only have three days to register. So, to all duelists who is interested in this, e-mail me and be on your way to possibly winning one of the big prizes!"  
  
Clair turned to face the camera. "Okay, everyone, that is all. The interview is now over, and so is this news program, so have a good night, and take care," Clair finished, then Maximillion got out of his seat.  
  
"Farewell, Clair Cox," he said and waved bye to the news reporter before walking out of the room the way he came. The guards followed him, and she sighed.  
  
"I am so glad that's over," she wiped her forehead.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
At the police station, the woman came out of the room and approached the bench where Brock, Tristan, and Wobbuffet sat. She cleared her throat before speaking.  
  
"Um, I came to tell you that um, the card fragments you showed me did have Surge's fingerprints and traces of DNA on it."  
  
"See? I told you," Tristan jumped up, happy to hear the news.  
  
Robert walked up to the woman. "So, they weren't lying huh?"  
  
"No, his fingerprints are all over the fragments. He must've destroy the card," she told him, and he turned to face the three.  
  
"I'm going to assemble a small squad of cops to go find the gang. We'll have him busted in no time," he said to Tristan.  
  
"Allright. Um, what can I do about the broken card? Is there any way to repair it?"  
  
"Yes, you can have the pieces sent to Industrial Illusions headquarters and they'll patch the card together for you."  
  
"You can do that? I didn't know," Tristan smiled.  
  
"Yeah, one of my nieces tore my daughter's card, I simply sent it back and they fixed it, no sweat," Robert spoke, then paused before continuing. "Anyway, I'm going to go sink this Surge."  
  
"Good luck," Tristan said as he walked away. He took the pieces from the woman then turned to Brock.  
  
"Are you ready to go?" Brock asked him. He nodded, then they all headed toward the exit of the building.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Outside, they mounted the powerbikes and started to crank them up, but Tristan stopped.  
  
"Hey, Tristan, I thought you were ready?"  
  
"I thought I heard a familiar voice," Tristan said as he looked around, then spotted a Quagsire making its way towards a busy street. It was wearing a emerald bracelet around its left arm, and Tristan gasped.  
  
"That's my cousin's Quagsire!" he yelled and leaped off his powerbike, sprinting rapidly towards the pokemon. But, a motorbike was racing down the parking lot, and the person on it wasn't looking directly in the street.  
  
"Tristan, look out!!" Brock hollered out, but it was too late. As a result, she accidentally whacked Tristan, sending Tristan flying through the air screaming.  
  
"Tristan!" Brock looked on as Tristan struck the concrete harshly, groaning in pain. His face cringed as he lie there, not moving.  
  
"Tristan!" gasped Brock as he got off the bike. Wobbuffet followed him. All this noise grabbed the Quagsire's attention. It turned and strolled over to see what was going on.  
  
The woman grabbed her mouth in shock, then dismounted and ran towards Tristan. "Are-a-are you okay?!" she stammered, kneeling down to check him out. Brock approached them.  
  
"Why don't you watch where you're going?!" He kneeled down beside Tristan. "How are you, man?"  
  
Tristan didn't respond, and the woman sighed heavily. "I-I'm so sorry, I-I- I..." her voice trailed off. She accessed her S.C.T and got out a first aid kit, then spoke to Tristan. "Are you okay? Do you have any broken bones?"  
  
Tristan finally began to move. He slowly rolling off his abdomen, groaning.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy," she said, then helped him sit up.  
  
Tristan grabbed his head and asked, "What happened?"  
  
"I... I accidently hit you with my bike, I'm deeply sorry," she said sadly.  
  
"Uh, it's allright. I've been hurt much worse than this," Tristan told her, making her look up.  
  
"Are you allright? I didn't break anything did I?"  
  
"No, no, Im just fine. A little shook up, but other than that, I'm good," he said, getting off the ground. He noticed the Quagsire and smiled, gently pulling it over to where he was. "Uh, I'm Tristan, Tristan Taylor. Nice to meet you," he extended his hand.  
  
The girl shook it. "My name's Whitney Collins, and I'm really sorry about that accident," she apologized again.  
  
"I told you, it's okay."  
  
The woman had pink hair pulled back into a high ponytail that was crinkled. Two, gold hoop earring hung from her ears and her eyeliner and eyeshadow helped accent her red eyes. She was dressed in a anklelength white skirt and a pastel pink top, and her height was around 5'4. She looked at Tristan's muscular body a bit dreamily.  
  
"So, uh, where do you come from, Whitney?" Tristan asked her, snapping her back into life. She smiled and got off the ground.  
  
"Oh, uh, I come from around here," she replied, grinning.  
  
"Really, you're from Pewter City? So am I," he said, then she switched topics.  
  
"So, what do you like to do? Are you off into Duel Monsters?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm trying to be a world-renowned duelist, what about you?"  
  
"Yep, definitely. I just love Duel Monsters, it's such a fun and addictive game," Whitney put the first aid kit back into the S.C.T, then sat down on a nearby bench. Tristan does the same.  
  
"Whose your friend?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, he's Brock Mowry, he's also off into Duel Monsters. Considered the top duelist in our neighborhood."  
  
"That's me," Brock chimed in, waving. Whitney waved back, then looked up to the sky.  
  
"Hey, Tristan? I'm going to go head home, I'll see you later. And uh, Whitney, I'm sorry if I was acting like a jerk."  
  
"No, you had every right to be angry, I could've hurt your friend."  
  
"Well, seeya later," Brock told them, then mounted his powerbike along with Wobbuffet.  
  
"Allright, be careful," Tristan and Whitney watched Brock pull off on the bike. Afterwards, they continued conversing.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Pallet Town was a place was quietness and cosyness. Not many people live there, or even knew about the place. It wasn't very big either, it just contained a few neighborhoods, one school, a fire station, a police station, and a town center. All of the neighborhoods consisted of houses that were spaced out between each other, and the houses often had acres of yards in between each other. Within one of the homes resided a young boy named Ash Ketchum who was sixteen years of age. He was receiving money from another person in exchange for fresh fruits. After the person was gone he sighed. This was how he made money, by selling fresh fruits and food for cash. He also fixed stuff for people bring in more income. Life was rough for him, as he no longer went to school. His mother had just died last year, and his father had been dead since the beginning of his life. He had no one, he was a loner. He couldn't finish his education in school because he always too busy trying to make money to feed and clothe himself, along with trying to keep the reposession people at bay. Life was hard for him, and it was all one person's fault. He wiped his forehead and walked around to the backyard of the house, then kept on towards a hot spring. Dense bubbles flowed on the surface the spring, and Ash pulled off his clothes, revealing his light gray boxers. He left his clothes on the ground and turned on a tv next to the hot spring. Ash stepped into the hot spring and sat down, letting the warm flow of bubbles massage and sooth his body. His mind was on the Duel Monsters championship. He had heard about it, and really wanted to enter. Someone was there and he wanted this someone dead. His name was Maximillion Pegasus, the man who killed his mother. It happened a year ago. She was dueling in an attempt to set her and him free of his clutches, and if one of them lost, they would die. And she lost... hence her death. He wasn't sure, but he remeber Pegasus saying that something was special about him... it was probably just some stupid talk. But, what if it was true? What if there was something special about him? He shook his head and rested his head back on a pillow, closing his eyes.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
In a secluded home in the hills of Domino City, a black limo pulled into the driveway. The estate was sprawling, all sorts of trimmed hedges, flower beds, neatly trimmed grass, fountains and other decorations completed the lawn. Guards stood around the gate making sure no one unauthorized gained entry into the house. The chauffer got out of the limo and walked around to the passenger part of the vehicle. He opened the door, and the creator of Duel Monsters himself stepped out the vehicle. He straightened his velvet suit, then walked along the walkway, his neck slightly lefted into the air. The door automatically slid open, granting him entrance. Pegaus walked into the lavish foyer of his house, and continued into the living room. There, a picture of his dead wife, Cecilia Pegasus hung on the wall. He approached the picture, rubbing his hand across it. Cecilia had blonde hair and was wearing a elegant gold dress.  
  
"Soon," he said softly. "Just soon, my beloved Cecilia, I shall have you back. Once I collect all six Talismans of Life shall I resurrect you, and you shall once again walketh the earth." (Trust me, there's more to this thant it appears, can't tell you though)  
  
Pegasus's trusty guard Kemo entered the room. He bowed his head down in Pegasus's presence.  
  
"Mr. Pegasus, sir? I wanted to let you know that preparations for the championship is underway. The Emerald Isle and Crystal Kingdom is being prepped for the duelists."  
  
"Goody-goody," Maximillion sat down on the sofa, picking up some comic books off of it. "Now, leave me, Kemo. Don't disturb me under any circumstances."  
  
"Yes, sir," Kemo replied and left the living room. Maximillion began to read the comics.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Yami frowned and began to think over possible strategies. [Foxxia's just drawn one of the most powerful monsters in the game. What can I do to stop it? I don't think I have any emulating cards, or another Spellbinding Circle to bind her monster. The only thing I can think of right now is to bide my time.]  
  
"Go, Mercury X, destroy Gaia, The Dragon Champion!!" Foxxia shouted as loud as she could. The monster lashed out a long hand made of mercury toward Yami's monster. The hand multiplied into several and smothered Gaia. Gaia struggled to get away, but it eventually combusted into pieces.  
  
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Foxxia laughed heartily. "Look whose losing now, Yami. Foxxia's not so weak after all, hmm?"  
  
Yami's Life Points- 1300  
  
Yami gulped and racked his brain trying to think of strategies, but he couldn't think of nothing. "I should just bide my time until I figure out a strategy," Yami muttered to himself and pulled up a card from the deck. He placed it on the console.  
  
"Feral Imp, in defense mode!" The Feral Imp materialized into battle, growling feriously.  
  
"Is that the best you can do? Mercury X, destroy Feral Imp, now!!" Foxxia's monster lashed out the hand again, which spread out into several different hands. They smothered the Feral Imp, but since it had been played in defense mode, no life points were drained.  
  
Yami drew yet another card, revealing itself to be the Horn Imp. "The Horn Imp, in defense mode!" he threw it down and loaded the monster.  
  
Foxxia laughed out again and yelled, "Destory the Horn Imp, now!!" Mercury X complied and smothered yet another one of Yami's monsters. "Face it, Yami, you can't beat me."  
  
[What if she's right? What if I can't beat her? The odds are seriously against me. I don't have a monster that strong in my deck. My strongest cards are Dark Magician and Summoned Skull, and both of them are 1000 attack points short.]  
  
[No, Yugi, we can't lose hope.] Yami began speaking to the other inhabitant of their body. [There must be someway to defeat Foxxia's monster, we just have to figure out how.]  
  
[What do you suggest we do?]  
  
[The only thing we can do is keep throwing out monsters in defense mode and trust in the Heart of the Cards to help us, like your Grandfather teaches us.]  
  
[You're right.]  
  
"C'mon, Yami! You're wasting time!" Foxxia said in a sing-song fashion. Yami snarled bitterly and drew a card from his hand, placing it down.  
  
"Dagon the Puppet, in defense mode!" Dagon the Puppet was a dark, crusty looking puppet with torn, white rags for clothing. It had blood red eyes and smooth blue hair, which both glowed luminously.  
  
Attack Power- 1400 Defense Power- 1200  
  
"Mercury X, you know what to do!" Foxxia shouted. Her monster performed the attack yet again, engulfing the puppet in mercury. Dagon wiggled and squirmed furiously before it suffocated and shattered. Yami's life points stayed intact, though.  
  
"Why don't you just stop wasting time and admit defeat? Mercury X is tearing through anything you throw at it, so why endure the humiliation?"  
  
"It'll be even more humiliating for me to give up to you," replied Yami.  
  
Foxxia shook her head. "Your loss."  
  
"C'mon, Yugi! You can't give up! You have to win!!" yelled Joey, and Yami nodded.  
  
"He's right, I have to win. I cannot give in to her. The Heart of the Cards will see me through, all I have to do is trust in them," Yami spoke quietly to himself and drew for a card, putting in all his faith. Will he be rewarded?  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Seto was busy giving Aya and Misty a tour through the Kaiba estate. They had toured the entire house, which took quite awhile, the gardens, the activity/recreational area, which consisted of tennis courts, basketball courts, a soccer field, dueling areas, and pools specially made for water polo and water volleyball matches, as well as a huge grass field made for running and exercising. They were now heading towards the backyard area. Misty and Aya were amazed at how enormous the mansion was. Seto loved spending time with them again, after all these years. It reminded him of how much they used to talk and play together when they were kids. It was nice to see some familiar faces. Once they reached the backyard area, Misty and Aya's mouths dropped in astonishment. The backyard was huge! The bricks which were laid out all over the deck was bricks made of granite. The swimming pool Seto had mentioned earlier was actually a huge lake. Some diving boards was setup around the lake, as well as slides leading into the 'pool'. The deck consisted of tons of gold tables with gold chairs around them, along with umbrellas installed on the tables to keep rain off of them. Some barbecue grills sat off in the distance. An entire amusement park was also situated in the backyard. Roller coasters, thrill rides, merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels, go kart tracks and tons of other stuff was located within.  
  
"Well, what do you think of my backyard?" Seto inquired.  
  
Aya and Misty were too awed to say anything. They couldn't believe it. A huge amusement park right in his backyard! So many things in his house! They were already shocked over the other things Seto had showed them, but the amusement park was simply unbelievable.  
  
"I've showed you two everything. That's my whole mansion. What do you think of it?"  
  
"It's amazing," Misty said.  
  
Aya still couldn't say anything.  
  
"Mokuba and I, we love playing in the theme park. We spend alot of time in it."  
  
"Can we go in it?" both Misty and Aya asked simutaneously.  
  
"Be my guest," Seto replied and the two girls ran off toward the theme park laughing. Seto smiled, then turned and sat down in a chair on the deck. Unforunately, they couldn't help him with his business. He had to do something. He needed to get some money from somewhere. Some disgusting poacher stole tons of his money, and the Holochips wasn't selling fast enough to make up for it. He was going under. What could he do? Maybe his rich living had come to an end.  
  
[No, this can't be it,] he told himself. [There has to be something I can do, there just has to be!] As Seto sat in the chair thinking, Mokuba ran up behind him. He tapped his shoulder and made him spin around.  
  
"Seto, you said you would take me to Pizza Palace today," Mokuba started.  
  
Seto sighed. "Mokuba, can't you get Nancy to cook up something, I'm busy."  
  
"No you're not! You're just sitting there doing nothing."  
  
"Mokuba, I've got to go meet someone, okay? Here," he gave Mokuba a charge card. "Tell Nancy I said take you to get you some pizza, allright?"  
  
"No, I want you to take me. You promised me, you said we'd hang out in town and go to Pizza Palace. I don't want Nancy to take me, I want you too."  
  
"Mokuba, don't be worsm. I gave you the money, now go get Nancy, I'm busy."  
  
Mokuba threw the money down on the table. "That's just like you Seto! You never keep your promises!! You always tell me you're going to do this and you're going to do that, and we're going to go have fun! Stop lying to me!!" Mokuba screamed and ran off, upset.  
  
Seto sighed heavily and jumped up after him. "Mokuba!" he grabbed him and turned him around. "Listen, I'm sorry I made that promise to you, but I have business to care of. If I don't do this, we won't have any money to spend or any mansion to live in, do you understand?"  
  
"No, that's just an excuse so that you won't have to go anywhere with me," Mokuba turned away from Seto with a scowl on his face.  
  
"Okay, Mokuba, I'll take you."  
  
"I don't wanna go now."  
  
"Mokuba," Seto kneeled down on one knee. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but you have to understand, a man like me has a lot a of business, important business to take care of. Now, I'll say this again, I'm really sorry if I hurt you in any way, please... forgive me," Seto pleaded.  
  
Mokuba just couldn't stay mad at his big brother forever. He bent down and gave Seto a hug. "I forgive you, Seto," they hugged each other for awhile then stood.  
  
"Now, let's go get you that pizza like I promised, okay?"  
  
"Okay, big brother," Mokuba and Seto smiled at each other, then headed back toward the amusement park where Misty and Aya was. They were so many rides that they were still trying to decide which one to take.  
  
"C'mon, Aya, let's ride a roller coaster."  
  
"No! Let's try the go karts track first!" Aya objected.  
  
"Hey, girls," Seto interrupted. "Me and Mokuba are going out to get a pizza, I'm letting you know that you're welcome to anything in the house."  
  
"Okay, bye," Aya replied to them. Both of the girls waved bye to them as Seto and Mokuba walked away waving back.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Surge, Vicki, and Jason walked along the street, laughing and talking about all sorts of violent things. Surge was busy counting the cards in his deck. He skimmed across the four Gamma Dragons cards and smiled. His most powerful cards, especially when fused into one. And now that the dork Tristan didn't have one, no one could beat him. He was the ultimate duelist. Surge was proud of himself. A job well done on his part.  
  
"So, boss, who do wanna take down now?" asked Vicki.  
  
"I don't know, I'm lookin' to register for the big tournament and take it easy, you know what I mean?"  
  
"I hear ya', boss," Jason said. They arrived at a old, white cottage. Surge grabbed a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. They all walked inside the house, and Surge closed the door behind him. He then plopped down on a sofa.  
  
"Oh, I feel so good, I've accomplished my job. Only I now have the four most powerful dragons in the game, well one of them, but still, no one can beat me now."  
  
"We know, boss, we know," Jason said while fixing hiimself a cup of milk.  
  
"Hey! Don't cut me off like that!"  
  
Suddenly, someone bammed on the door. "This is the P.C.D. We'd like to ask you a few questions regarding a matter about a card." Surge approached the door.  
  
"What are you doing? Don't answer that!" Jason yelled softly.  
  
"If I don't they're going to bust the door down anyway. Besides, we can handle some cops," Surge responded and opened the door. "Hello there, officers," he greeted in a friendly tone of voice.  
  
There were four cops standing outside. Three were men, one was a woman. "Is there a Surge W. Crusher living at this address?" one of the men asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm him," Surge replied.  
  
"Okay. Surge, we'd like to ask you a few questions regarding a matter about a Duel Monsters card. Now, there's been some allegations against you, claiming that you threatened someone's life and forced them to give you a card, then you tore it. Is this true?"  
  
"Who accused me of this?"  
  
"Just answer my question, please," the man told him.  
  
"Allright, then. To tell you the truth, I did!" he said and kicked the cop in the mouth, knocking him down. "Get to the motorcycles, now!!" he yelled to Jason and Vicki.  
  
"Allright, freeze! Hands in the air, right now!!" the cops shouted, but they didn't listen.  
  
"Run for it!" Surge darted toward the back of the house with Jason and Vicki, attempting to escape. The leader ordered the other three to give chase while he called for backup. They obeyed and chased after them.  
  
"Squad Leader to nearest police station! We have a problem! There are three gang members who admitted to threatening someone life over a Duel Monsters card! Requesting backup immediately!" he yelled and began chasing them himself.  
  
Surge and the others ran as fast as they could. They exited the house and jumped on the motorcycles, cranking them up. The four cops bolted out of the door and saw them pulling off. They quickly reached out their guns and shot at the tires, busting them. This made the three skid out of the control and bang into some trees, which threw them off the bike and onto the ground. The four cops approached them.  
  
"You're busted!" The four cops bent down and handcuffed the three, then snatched them up off the ground.  
  
"Confiscate all of their decks," the leader ordered. "This is Squad Leader Thomas. Cancel the request for back up please, over." The other cops searched them until they found their decks in their pockets. They took them, then hauled them off toward the cars. Shoving them inside, the cops cranked up the engines and pulled away from the house, heading back toward the police station.  
  
"Now look what you've done," Vicki muttered and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Just when things were going great," Surge muttered to himself, extremely angry and disgusted.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Meanwhile, back at Joey's house, Foxxia and Yami were of course, still dueling. Foxxia was still dominating the match with her powerful monster, and nothing could get Yami out of this dilemma. Should he accept the fact that he'd been defeated and forfeit? Yami shook his head. He could not throw in the towel. He had to keep fighting. There was no telling what Foxxia could or would do with the power of the Millenium Puzzle under her control. But what could he do to win? He had no cards with offense points of 3500. And Yami knew that he would eventually run out of cards to keep dishing out in defense. Something had to be done. And Yami knew what his only option was. Trust in the cards. It was the only way he could possibly defeat his nemesis. Yami put all his faith into the card and drew for it.  
  
"Stop stalling, Yami, or else you'll forfeit your turn."  
  
Yami closed his eyes, putting all his trust, hope, and faith in the cards. He had to get a good card. Under Foxxia's control, the Millenium Puzzle could be a deadly item. The Heart of the Cards had to come through. And he believed that it would. Yami opened his eyes and picked up the card, which was the Living Arrow card.  
  
[What could I do with this? Living Arrow only allows me to fuse together two monsters that aren't normally compatible. And it can be either one of my cards or the adversary's, or in this case, Foxxia's.] This gave Yami an idea. He drew for another card and it turned out to be Reborn the Monster.  
  
[This is Perfect! Now all I need is to draw the Summoned Skull and I can win this match!] He pulled a card from his hand and placed it face-down.  
  
"The Mammoth Graveyard, in defensive mode!" Yami's monster materialized into battle, growling and snarling ferociously.  
  
Attack Power- 1200 Defense Power- 1200  
  
"Ha! Is that the best you can do?! Mercury X, smother it, now!!" Foxxia shouted. Mercury X lashed out it's hand and duplicated four more. They all tangled around the Mammoth Graveyard card and suffocated it. The monster yelled in extreme pain. Mercury X continued to smother it until it popped, but no life points were lost.  
  
"Why don't you just give up, Yami? You look so desperate and silly throwing out all these monsters in defense mode. That's a loser's tactic who doesn't wanna admit that he/she's lost."  
  
"Don't listen to her, Yuge! You can win this, I know it!!" Joey cheered for Yugi/Yami, despite the odds. Yami nodded at Joey, then drew for another card, hoping for a good one.  
  
[I've bought myself some time, but I can't keep dishing out monsters in defense mode. I'm running out of them. I need to draw the Summoned Skull so I can finish this match, here and now. Otherwise, she'll keep obliterating them until I have no more.]  
  
[Don't forget, Yugi, that Summoned Skull is in that deck somewhere, you'll eventually run across it.] Yami reminded him in a somewhat calm tone of voice.  
  
[You sure seem calm despite what's going on.]  
  
[I always keep my cool, no matter what.]  
  
Yugi chuckled at the spirit, then picked up the card, looking at it. It wasn't the Summoned Skull.  
  
"Darn!" he muttered to himself, then placed it in the defense mode. "I call upon the Celtic Guardian, defense mode!" The Celtic Guardian growled in a deep and flat tone after it loaded.  
  
Attack Power- 1400 Defense Power- 1300  
  
"Still at it, hunh Yami-boy? I guess you just won't give up. Mercury X, smother it!!" Mercury X launched it's five hands straight at Celtic Guardian, and smothered it until it popped. The hands turned back into one and retreated into the body of Foxxia's monster.  
  
"C'mon, I need the Summoned Skull," Yami muttered softly and drew yet another card, and this time was what he wanted. The Summoned Skull. Yami's frown turned into a smirk as he began to laugh.  
  
"Huh? What's so funny?! I'm dominating the match!"  
  
"Not any more, Foxxia. You may have enjoyed picking off my monsters one by one, but you're liquid charade has come to an end!"  
  
"What are you talking about? Nothing in your deck is strong enough to defeat my monster. Stop talking crazy talk," Foxxia quipped.  
  
"I'm not talking crazy talk, I speak the truth. I'll admit, there isn't a monster in my deck strong enough to take on the Mercury X."  
  
"Then what is it you're so confident about?"  
  
"You shall find out, right now!" Yami first slapped down Reborn the Monster. "There may not be a monster in my deck with that kind of attack power, but with a help of a monster from your deck this match is mine! Behold, the return of your Blue Eyes White Dragon!!" Yami shouted with an ominous tone of voice. The Blue Eyes White Dragon sounded its infamous roar as it rose from the ground, towering high over Mercury X.  
  
Attack Power- 3000 Defense Power- 2500  
  
"And now I shall play the Summoned Skull, in attack mode!" A cloud ring formed in the ground, and the sky in the field grew dark. The Summoned Skull emerged from the ring, grumbling and growling carnivorously.  
  
Attack Power- 2500 Defense Power- 1200  
  
"And now, for the final play, I shall play Living Arrow along with a polymerization card, to fuse these two powerful monsters into something no one hardly ever witness!!" Yami threw down these two cards and let the magic go to work.  
  
Foxxia and Joey gasped at Yami's surprise move, though Foxxia's facial expression was one of worry, while Joey's facial expression was one of happiness and relief. When the merging completed, a bluish, whitish dragon made of thick skeleton bones stood there. One giant, black eye met Foxxia's monster, and it roared a roar then sent shivers down her spine.  
  
"Meet... the rare and legendary Blue Eyes Skeletal Dragon!" Yami announced, and Foxxia's face cringed at the name.  
  
Attack Power- 4100 Defense Power- 3900  
  
"Oh no... I know what's going to happen now," she said while trembling.  
  
"Brace yourself, Foxxia, because this is going to be one massive blast. Blue Eyes Skeletal Dragon, attack Mercury X now!! Giant Lightning Shock!!!" The monster roared and powered up a huge electrical charge in its eye. Foxxia braced herself and closed her eyes, unable to look at what was about to transpire. The Blue Eyes Skeletal Dragon fired, and the large lighting bolt plastered right into the chest of Mercury X, shocking it brutally. Bright light flashed everywhere as Foxxia's most powerful monster went up in a huge explosion. The shockwave created tossed Foxxia into the wall behind, shattering the mirror. Smoke flooded the field, and after it died down, her monster was no more.  
  
"Sayonara, Foxxia," Yami said with a hint of sinisterness in his voice.  
  
Foxxia's Life Points- 0  
  
"Allright!! You did it, Yugi!!" Joey exclaimed.  
  
Foxxia got up from the ground and collected her cards. "No, I lost," Foxxia stared at the now empty dueling arena, completely surprised. "I was dominating the match, I had Yami trembling before my might. What happened?"  
  
"You lost, that's what happened, and now I shall get rid of you once and for all!" hollered Yami. He prepped his puzzle for action.  
  
"You think so? I'm smarter than you think!" Foxxia quickly latched onto her dueling stand, then teleported away just as Yami gave the command to banish her to the Shadow Realm. As a result, he banished the television.  
  
Joey blinked a bit surprised, but Yami blinked dumbfounded. "What the heck? How'd you do that Yugi?"  
  
Yugi reverted back to his regular self. "I didn't, Foxxia did," he quickly replied.  
  
"I wonder how? She's gonna have to pay for it! I saved up a lot of money to buy 'dat tv!" Joey sighed. The hardened goo stuff that was binding Joey dissappeared, and he dropped to the floor flat on his butt. "Ouch."  
  
Yugi couldn't help but laugh at Joey's little misfortunes.  
  
"Ah, you think this is funny, hunh Yugi?" Joey said while getting up.  
  
"If I didn't I wouldn't be laughing," Yugi replied, then Joey charged for him.  
  
"Come here!" he ran at him. Yugi jumped and took off, Joey hot on his tail. Both of them were laughing.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Back at the police station, Surge boldly admitted that he, Vicki and Jason did take the card and threaten Tristan's life (much to Vicki and Jason's dismay) and the cops checked them all in. They continued down to the detention cells. A nearby guard unlocked a cell and opened the door, and the four cops pushed the gang of three into the cell. The guard closed the door back, locking it.  
  
"Enjoy your stay," she teased and walked away. Surge threw himself down on a bench, enraged. Stupid cops. Just when everything was going perfect, they just had to come and muck things up! Surge began to wonder why they even wanted to question him. As far as they were concerned, he and his friends hadn't done anything. They were being upstanding citizens of Pewter City. Then it hit him.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Confiscate all of their decks," the leader ordered. The other cops searched them until they found their decks in their pockets.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
That was it. Someone must've told about how he was stealing people's Duel Monsters cards. But who would? He always threatened everybody and scared them until they vowed not to say one word. Who had enough guts to tell? Tristan...  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Now, where.. are.. they?" Surge began to get impatient.  
  
"I'm not telling you anything."  
  
"Allright, Jason, slit his throat!" Surge ordered.  
  
"NOOO!! Okay, they're with me," Tristan admitted.  
  
"I knew you'd come through, search him!" Jason and Vicki searched like they were told. Sure enough, they came across Tristan's deck of cards.  
  
Surge searched through to deck until he found the card he was looking for, the Gamma Dragon.  
  
"At long last, the last Gamma Dragon," Surge said, then looked at Tristan. "Thanks for your cooperation." Surge then ripped the card into numerous bits and pieces. They all burst out into hysterical laughter, and walked away.  
  
"See ya later, alligator!" Surge yelled and laughed hilariously along with Vicki and Jason.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
Tristan had to have spilled the beans. Surge remebered that Tristan was the only person he didn't threaten after their encounter. He must've done it. The punk kid was going to pay, big time... The door to the cell opened, and that made them look to see what was going on. The sheriff was standing in the doorway. And his face was not a pretty one. He motioned for Surge to come here.  
  
"I need to speak with you... son," he spoke. Surge slowly stood from the bench he was sitting on and walked out of the cell. The guard immediately shut the door back and Robert led Surge out of the detention cells and into his office. He closed the door and locked it.  
  
"I can't believe it. I cannot believe you would go this low, to threaten someone's life over a Duel Monsters card? That is not the way me and your mother raised you! We taught you better than that!"  
  
"Yeah, well what can I say, every couple has at least one rotten apple. Guess I'm it."  
  
"Don't you feel the least bit ashamed about how you've acted?"  
  
"Um... no."  
  
Robert sighed in disbelief. "Surge, this isn't like you. Deep down inside, that nice, manish, mature and decent Surge must be there somewhere. You never use to act this way. Not until you started hanging around Vicki and Jason. What happened to you?"  
  
"I grew up," Surge quipped, and Robert shook his head. "You've dissappointed me deeply, son..."  
  
"Wait a minute, wait a minute now, I have?"  
  
"Yes, you have dissappointed me, Surge! I thought you were going to be a upstanding, decent young man that would go to college, get a job, support himself, uphold the law... just like you said you would when you were a little boy. Surge," his father paused for moment and approached him. "I don't wanna put you in jail."  
  
"Then don't. Let me go."  
  
"But how can I know that you won't start doing the same stuff once you're free? You don't seem to be the least bit ashamed."  
  
"You're right about that."  
  
Robert sighed again, shaking his head. "Surge, aren't there any bit of the morals me and your mother taught in here?" he poked Surge's chest. "I know you're trying to look tough, but Surge, I believe you really are ashamed of your actions."  
  
"I told you Father, I am not ashamed of anything!!" Surge yelled, startling Robert a little.  
  
"Son, I'm going to tell you this one last time, I am deeply dissappointed in you."  
  
"Ouch! That hurt me, Father. Guess what, I don't care."  
  
"Allright, then, if you want it this way, you're going to get it. I'm taking all of your Gamma Dragons and are going to give them to the person you threatened."  
  
"No! Those cards are extremely rare!"  
  
"Should've thought about that before you threatened to kill someone over them. I'm going to put you behind bars for a month and let you think over your actions. I'm having mercy on you right now, son, because people get more than a month of jail time for threatening someone's life. Maybe, just maybe down there you'll think more clearly about what you've done," Robert said and spun Surge around, handcuffing him.  
  
"You're not hurting me, Dad."  
  
"I'm not trying to, I'm doing this for your own good," he told him and escorted Surge back down to the detention cells. He uncuffed Surge and watched him walk inside. The guard shut the door and locked it back, and Robert shook his head in shame. He looked at Surge one last time and turned around, walking away from the cell. Surge hit the bars then sat down. He was furious!! Tristan was definitely going to pay for this...  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Tristan had been notified that Surge was busted, and that in exchange for his trouble, he was compensated with Surge's four Gamma Dragons. Robert handed him the cards.  
  
"Here you go, kid."  
  
Tristan kindly accepted the cards. "Thank you, Sheriff. I appreciate it."  
  
"Any time," he shook hands with Tristan. "Take care, kid, and stay out of trouble. Keep livin' a good life."  
  
"Yes, Sheriff," Tristan smiled and made his way toward the exit. He walked out of the police station, a big smile on his face. Now all he had to do was e-mail Industrial Illusions the broken card pieces, then he would have the only five Gamma Dragons ever made! The Quagsire was in a pokeball, so he didn't have to lug it around. Tristan made his way over to a e-mail terminal. The e-mail terminal basically looked like a miniature teleporter from Star Trek (think about the Enterpise D's transporter pad shrunken down to the size of a mailbox). Accessing his S.C.T, he transporter a pen out of it.  
  
He wrote: 'To Industrial Illusions, from dueling fan Tristan Taylor. There is a broken Gamma Dragon card inside this box. Could you please repair the damaged card and send it back me. My e-mail address is Ladies'Man2700. Thank you.'  
  
Tristan placed the box on the blue spotlight, which then activated and converted the box into invisible subspace matter then began to beam it over to Industrial Illusions headquarters via invisible satellite beams. Tristan then mounted his powerbike and cranked it up. He sped off the lot, heading towards his cousin's house to drop off the Quagsire.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
The day had turned into night now. 2144 hours (9:44 pm). Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, everything was calm. A slight, balmy breeze blew gently, and subtle waves elegantly flowed through the peaceful, deep blue, majestic waters. The soothing sounds of the waves splashing down on the ocean rung through the air, bringing about a tranquil calm. A few dolphins jumped up out of the water and splashed back down in it. Then they reappeared on the surface. They swum about seeking food, then jumped back down underwater as a speedboat roared by. The boat was pretty small, it was just a two-seater with no type of cabin to sleep in. In the two seats sat two people, a teenage boy and a teenage girl. The boy was driving the boat. He had dusty brown hair and eyes, and looked to be about 5'6 in height, and weighed about 146 lbs. He looked like he was around age 15. The girl also looked like she was 15 years of age, and she was a bit on the short side. Only 5'0, she weighed 97 lbs. Her black hair was combed into two long pigtails that flowed down to her upper ribs. Both of them were a little on the wild side, since they were wearing just their underwear outside.  
  
"Do you think we should put on some clothes? What if someone sees us?" the boy spoke.  
  
The girl thumped him. "Chill out, no one's out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean except us."  
  
"Yeah, but I still feel a little uncomfortable."  
  
"Li, we've seen each other in underwear before, dozens of times. It's nothing new."  
  
"I know, but we've never been all outside with just underwear on before, Meilin. It feels a bit strange."  
  
"Li, you worry too much, too much," Meilin said while shaking her head. "I can't wait until we reach Pewter City."  
  
"Yep, and see the look on Brock and Tristan's face when they finally see us again."  
  
"I just know they're going to be shocked out of their minds, because they haven't seen or heard from us in about 4 years!"  
  
"It's pretty exciting, isn't it?" asked Li.  
  
"Yes, it is," Meilin agreed. "Isn't this romatic, Li? We're all alone out in the middle of nowhere, just me and you. It's something I'll never forget," she said while staring at Li's face. She then yawned. "I'm gettin' sleepy, aren't you?"  
  
"Kind of," Li said, a hint of sleepiness in his voice, but not much. "Meilin, have you ever skinny dipped before?"  
  
"You have, Li?"  
  
"No, but if you want to we can. It's something we've never done before."  
  
"C'mon, Li, let's do it."  
  
"But I thought you said you were sleepy. Tell you what, we'll do it when we wake up tommorrow morning, how about it?"  
  
"I guess so," Meilin reclined the seat back to an outstretched position. Li stopped the boat and shut off the engine, then reclined his chair back also. He gazed up in the sky, trying to find a certain constellation.  
  
"Li, I love you," Meilin whipsered softly.  
  
"I love you, too, Meilin," Li replied. She smiled, then cuddled together with her boyfriend. Both of them began drifting off to sleep.  
  
  
  
**************************************************************************** ************************************************************************  
  
  
  
What do you think? Is it good? Is it bad? I so hope it's not bad. The only way I can know is if you review the book. Please tell me your comments, questions and/or thoughts. It would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to try and update every week or two, but sometimes it may take longer than that to update. The only computer I have access to is my sister's labtop, and she's always using to do her college work or to talk to her friends via online, so I don't always gt a chance to type the fic. But I type it whenever I can. Well, I gotta go. Please be sure to post a comment about the fanfic, too. If I know what you think about the fic, it'll motivate me to continue writing or improve (hopefully its good already). Till next time, folks! 


	3. Episode 03, 'Two More Days'

Hello, everybody! I'm back with an all-new episode of Duelists of The Future. Now the book is about to get interesting. New storylines are going to be introduced in this episode, and I hope you like this episode. Don't forget to post some reviews so I can know whether I'm doing a good job or not, hopefully I am. Anyway, enough chatting, it's time to press on to the all-new episode!  
  
Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 03, 'Two More Days...'  
  
**************************************************************************** ************************************************************************  
  
Previously...  
  
Maximillion Pegasus... Clair: "Okay, Pegasus, rumor also has it that a huge tournament is going to be hosted, am I right?"  
  
"Yes, you're correct. There will be a new tournament and I'm going to host it."  
  
"You are? Where and when will this exciting new tournament take place?"  
  
"The tournament is going to take place on the Crystal Kingdom, known for some of the cleanest, crispest air found in the world. Expensive resorts, state-of-the-art spas and hottubs, stellar fruits and food, and lots of entertaining things will be found here. And you only have three days to register. Oh, and it'll cost you a fee of $15 dollars. So, to all duelists who is interested in this, e-mail me and be on your way to possibly winning one of the big prizes!"  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Yugi Moto... "Meet... the rare and legendary Blue Eyes Skeletal Dragon!" Yami announced, and Foxxia's face cringed at the name.  
  
Attack Power- 4100 Defense Power- 3900  
  
"Oh no... I know what's going to happen now," she said while trembling.  
  
"Brace yourself, Foxxia, because this is going to be one massive blast. Blue Eyes Skeletal Dragon, attack Mercury X now!! Giant Lightning Shock!!!" The monster roared and powered up a huge electrical charge in its eye. Foxxia braced herself and closed her eyes, unable to look at what was about to transpire. The Blue Eyes Skeletal Dragon fired, and the large lighting bolt plastered right into the chest of Mercury X, shocking it brutally. Bright light flashed everywhere as Foxxia's most powerful monster went up in a huge explosion. The shockwave created tossed Foxxia into the wall behind; the mirror shattering upon her impact. Smoke flooded the field, and after it died down, her monster was no more.  
  
"Sayonara, Foxxia," Yami said with a hint of sinisterness in his voice.  
  
Foxxia's Life Points- 0  
  
"Allright, you did it, Yugi!" exclaimed Joey.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Surge Crusher... (Surge's thoughts) Someone must've told about how he was stealing people's Duel Monsters cards. But who would? He always threatened everybody and scared them until they vowed not to say one word. Who had enough guts to tell? Tristan... Tristan had to have spilled the beans. Surge remebered that Tristan was the only person he didn't threaten after their encounter. He must've done it. The punk kid was going to pay, big time...  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Meilin Rae/ Li Showron... Meilin: "I can't wait until we reach Pewter City."  
  
Li: "Yep, and see the look on Brock and Tristan's face when they finally see us again."  
  
"I just know they're going to be shocked out of their minds, because they haven't seen or heard from us in about 4 years!"  
  
"It's pretty exciting, isn't it?" asked Li. "Just imagine what they're going to look like when we show up again."  
  
"Yep, I can't wait till the day." Meilin added.  
  
**************************************************************************** ************************************************************************  
  
Domino City, 0930 hours, Thursday Morning. The sun shone brightly in the sky as people hustled along with their daily business. Freeways were full of cars commuting along, streets were congested with traffic, and people strolled along the sidewalks. In a certain neighborhood of middle-class citizens, a crowd of people, particularly teenagers, were standing around a spot in a park in which two duelists (girls) were duking it out. One girl behind a hot pink dueling console was Misty, and the other girl (Arista) was an anonymous chick from nearby. Arista was being crushed by Misty.  
  
Misty's/Arista's Life Points- 1700 (Misty)/ 400 (Arista)  
  
"Fiend Kracken, enstare the witch, now!" shouted Misty. The Fiend Kracken (see Episode 6 of Yu-gi-oh! anime series) lashed its long, brown tendrils out of the water and latched around a card known as the Black Witch. The Black Witch was a female monster wearing a black cloak over her entire body, covering everything except her blood red eyes. The Black Witch screamed in excrutiating pain as Fiend Kracken snatched her underwater and shattered her.  
  
"Oh, no, my monster!" Arista screamed.  
  
Arista's Life Points- 200  
  
"Why don't you give up, Arista? You can't beat me."  
  
Arista drew a card and placed it down. "The Feral Imp, in attack mode!" The monster loaded onto the field, growling ferociously.  
  
Attack Power- 1300 Defense Power- 1100  
  
"And now I'll combine it with the Horn of the Unicorn!" Arista threw down the card, and a golden horn materialized onto the Feral Imp's forehead and powered it up.  
  
Attack Power- 1600  
  
"Since water conducts electricity, this is more than enough attack power! Magic Lightning attack!!" Feral Imp charged a powerful electrical charge and fired it at the water which Fiend Kracken resided.  
  
"Not so fast, Arista! I play Negate Attack!" Misty flipped up her hidden magic, which produced a magical field that absorbed Arista's attack.  
  
Misty drew a card from her deck and smiled when she saw what it was. "And now, I shall play this magic card, 'Krackle', which raised my Fiend Kracken's attack power by 600 points!" Misty slapped down the card, and smirked at Arista.  
  
Attack Power- 1800 Defense Power- 1000  
  
"Bye-bye, Arista," Misty teased. "Fiend Kracken, Krackle Crush Attack!!" The Fiend Kracken tendrils sprung up out of the water, and electrical sacks were located in the suckion holes. It grabbed onto Feral Imp and shocked it brutally until it exploded, then it retreated back into the water.  
  
Arista's Life Points- 0  
  
"Oh no... I've lost," murmered Arista.  
  
"Ha! Ha! I said you wouldn't beat me, and you didn't tramp! Now hand over the money!" Misty walked over to where Arista was standing and stuck out her hand. Arista reluctantly gave Misty the 200 dollars they betted before the match. She lowered her head in shame and collected her deck, stored her Holochip, and walked away. There were numerous 'She's good' and 'Misty's an awesome duelist' as the small crowd walked away from the battlefield. Misty gathered her things and headed to her house. Once she reached the house, Misty unlocked the door with the key she was given. She walked inside and closed the door behind her. She smelled some breakfast food being prepared in the kitchen, and decided to see what was cooking. She made her way through the house until she reached the kitchen. Her older and oldest sister Daisy was cooking toast along with some eggs.  
  
"Hey there, Daisy, what's up?" Misty greeted.  
  
"Hi, little sis," Daisy replied. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm fine, what about you."  
  
"Never been better," Daisy grinned. She flipped over the toast in the skillet and continued cooking it. "So, where were you? Lily said you weren't in your room."  
  
"Oh, I was down at the park."  
  
"That's not like you to get up and head out right when you get up, you usually linger around here. Let me guess, you were meeting some cute boy, hunh?"  
  
"No! That's not all I think about. I won some money."  
  
"Really? How?"  
  
"I beat this stuck-up tramp named Arista. She goes to my school. Anyway, she challenged me to a duel and whoever won would get $200 dollars as the prize. Needless to say, I kicked the crap out of her."  
  
"That's excellent! Good for you," Daisy exclaimed. Silence filled the room for a little while before Daisy continued. "Are you hungry? There's some grilled cheese sandwiches already done over there," Daisy said and pointed to a plate with some paper towels over it sitting on a countertop.  
  
"Thanks," Misty grabbed a saucer out of a wooden cabinet and grabbed two grilled cheese sandwiches off of the plate. She was a bit hesitant to eat it, mainly because Daisy's food wasn't always edible. Most of the time her food came out looking like cow manure or worse... but they looked pretty good though. Misty bit into one and her squinched face turned into one of delight.  
  
"This is actually good, sis," commented Misty.  
  
"I know, I bought a cookbook from the corner store the other day. I've been following it accordingly." Daisy picked up three grilled cheese sandwiches out of the skillet and placed them on the plate, then covered it back up.  
  
Misty downed the two cheese sandwiches, then fixed herself a cup of water and skipped to her room. She walked inside and closed the door behind her, then sat down at a computer. She pressed a green button which turned it on instantly, then typed out a letter which said she wanted to enter into the Crystal Kingdom Tournament. She e-mailed that to Industrial Illusions, then sighed.  
  
"I'm finally in," she said. She got out of the chair and sauntered over to her closet, opening the door. She looked through various outfits hanging in the closet. "Now, what should I pack? The cruise ship is going to set sail in two days, what should I bring along?" As she pondered the idea, someone spied on her out of the nearby Sycamore Tree in the backyard...  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Joey finished tying his black tennis shoes. He stood and looked at himself in a mirror, and his pants began falling down. Joey sighed heavily as he held them up and walked over to his dresser. He grabbed a black leather belt out of the dresser and slipped it on tightly around the blue jeans, and let them go. The belt kept the pants in place. Joey smiled in satisfaction and left his room, skipping down the hallway. He was in a good mood today, mainly because of summer break. No school for three whole months always managed to put Joey in a good mood. He hopped down the stairs and walked toward the den when he heard some bumping and rumbling. He stopped, and heard something tumbling in the laundry room. After what happened yesterday, Joey cautiously made his way toward the door which lead into the laundry room. A pole was hanging on the wall. Joey grabbed it for self-defense, then crept closer and closer toward the laundry room. He clenched the pole tightly in his hand and approached the door. Some more tumbling sounded inside, along with a slight scream from Yugi.  
  
"Yugi!" Joey snatched the door open to find Yugi sitting on the floor with laundry covering him. "Yugi, what are you doing?"  
  
Yugi removed the clothing off of him and put it in the nearby baskets, which was also on the floor. "I'm doing laundry, what does it look like?"  
  
"It look like you're playin' with clothes," Joey snickered.  
  
"I was trying to reach the laundry buckets that you 'conveniently' placed on the top shelf. While I was trying to reach them, I fell off the stepstool," Yugi said. He got off the floor and picked up the baskets. He walked over to the laundry machine and dumped the clothes into it, then closed the door. He turned it on and let the concentrated sonic waves clean the clothes.  
  
"Sorry, Yuge. So, have you heard about the new Duel Monsters tournament? It's supposed to be a huge one," Joey put down the pole as he spoke.  
  
"There's a new tournament? When? Where?"  
  
"You haven't heard? As much as you love Duel Monsters, you shoulda been tellin' me."  
  
"I've been kinda busy lately. I haven't really had much time to listen out for stuff like that. Where'd you hear it from?"  
  
"Kids from all over the neighborhood are talking about it. They said a interview came on about it, but we must've missed it."  
  
"Probably came on when I was dueling that strange lady," Yugi headed out of the room, and Joey followed him. They went into the den and sat down on the sofa.  
  
"Are you going to the tournament, Yugi? I know I'm am."  
  
"You are?"  
  
"Yeah, one of my neighbors said you could win 100 million! Imagine all that money!"  
  
"100 millions dollars? It would be cool to have that much money."  
  
"So are you going?"  
  
"I don't know, Grandpa said he wanted me to hang around and help him sell cards at the shop.. which means I should get going. Grandpa's probably been expecting me!" Yugi realized that and leaped off the sofa. "I gotta run Joey, see you later!" Yugi darted off toward the door.  
  
"Uh, Yugi, are you planning to sell cards in your pajamas?" Joey asked.  
  
Yugi looked down at himself to see he was still wearing blue pajamas pants and a yellow t-shirt. He chuckled and darted off to the bathroom. Yugi changed into his school uniform since his other clothes weren't through in the laundry machine yet. He came out of the bathroom and ran upstairs to retrieve his shoes. After he put them on, he dashed back downstairs and ran out of the house. Joey ran after him, and closed the door behind him.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
At the game shop, Yugi opened the door and walked inside, followed by Joey. There were stacks of boxes sitting in the backroom where Solomon usually was. Yugi walked back there, but surprisingly, no one was there.  
  
"Grandpa?" called Yugi, but no one asnwered. Yugi looked around the bare room, but there wasn't nothing but tons of unopened cardboard boxes stacked in the room.  
  
"Grandpa?!" Yugi called out to him again, but no one responded. Joey peeped under boxes to see if he was behind them, but he didn't see anything.  
  
"Yugi, maybe he's not here."  
  
Yugi backed toward the entrance, trying to scan over the entire room one more time. Nothing was there except Joey and boxes. He turned around to leave when he bumped into someone, his Grandfather.  
  
"Grandpa?"  
  
"Yugi, I told you I needed you here first thing in the morning to help me unload all these boxes! The store will be opening at 10:00, and I know people of all shapes and sizes are going to come flocking in here to buy the new cards. Now I've only got thirty minutes at most to try and unpack all the boxes!"  
  
"Grandpa, I'm sorry, I lost track of time."  
  
"Yugi, you promised me yesterday you'd help me unpack all the new shipments of boxes first thing in the morning," Solomon said while walking to a lone box he had unstacked. He opened it and started pulling out various cards packs which caught Yugi and Joey's attention.  
  
"Wow, let me see that!" Joey snatched a card pack from Solomon.  
  
"Hey, give me that back!"  
  
"Wait a minute, I wanna see something!" Joey ripped open the pack, much to Solomon's dismay. He analyzed one of the cards in his hand and smiled.  
  
"Joey, you weren't supposed to open it!" said Solomon.  
  
"I couldn't help it! My Duel Monsters deck need some serious boosting," Joey flipped through the cards, aweing in the process. "Aw, man, this is one good stack of cards!" he looked up at Solomon. "Allright, Mr. Moto, you've got a customer. I want these cards, all of 'em."  
  
"Well, since you're Yugi's best friend, I'll go ahead and give them to you free of charge."  
  
"F..."  
  
"On one condition, you agree to help me unpack at least the majority of these boxes."  
  
"You've got a deal!" Joey exclaimed. Solomon took the cards and stashed them in his pocket. "Well, get busy."  
  
"Yes, sir," Joey immediately began unstacking a stack of boxes and unpacking them. Solomon looked at Yugi, giving him the 'go ahead' look. Yugi obeyed him and began unpacking the boxes. Solomon then began unpacking boxes himself.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Surge, Vicki and Jason had just been escorted out of the shower rooms and back to their cell. They were also given a jail uniform which they put on. Neither one of them was liking jail time, especially Surge. Surge took a seat on the right hand side of the bench, thinking. How could he get out of this cell? The new Duel Monsters championship was beginning in two days, and he had to get there. But Daddy dearest was forcing him to stay in jail for a month, hoping 'he'll think over his actions'. Surge rolled his eyes in disgust. There had to be a way to escape from the cell.  
  
"Hey, boss, what are we going to do now?" Jason spoke up.  
  
"I don't know, why are you asking me?!"  
  
"Because you always know what to do. And besides, you're the reason why we're locked up in the first place."  
  
"Yeah, boss!" chimed Vicki.  
  
"Well, I don't know what to do now! Just how do you think we're going to escape from jail? Are we gonna waltz our way out?"  
  
"Chill out, I was just asking a question."  
  
"Next time, ask me something I can answer," Surge quipped sarcastically. "It's bad enough we're in jail already, I don't need you giving me a headache by asking me questions I can't answer."  
  
"We don't even have to be in jail, it's your fault we are here in the first place!" retorted Jason.  
  
"Shut up!! I'm trying to think!" Surge yelled, then rested his head in his hands.  
  
"There has to be some way out," mused Vicki.  
  
"Maybe we've hit rock bottom. Thanks a lot, Surge," said Jason.  
  
"No, we haven't, we just need time to figure out what we're going to do," Surge said, then sighed afterwards. What was they going to do? Everything seemed so hopeless. He would never get out of jail before the start of the tournament. What could he do? Maybe he could convince his father to let him go.  
  
[Robert would never do that. He thinks if I stay in jail long enough I'll regret what I did. He dead wrong. I don't regret it, as a matter of a fact, Daddy's making it worse, for Tristan that is...]  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Pallet Town, 0957 hours. Ash's bedroom was quite junky, lots of papers and trash was strawn about. There wasn't much in the room, just a bed, two nightstands next to it, a dresser, and a gold chest sitting on the floor. Green carpet plated the floor, and a bare white wall was paired with it. Ash didn't have any sheets or a bedspread on the bed, instead he left it bare. He was asleep, and he tossed and turned about. Sweat was running down his face. He turned over on his side, still tossing and mumbling unconsciously. His red a-shirt was stained due to sweat, and his white shorts stuck to his skin.  
  
(Dream Sequence)  
  
He was running down a metallic hallway, and two guards was chasing him. The guards was dressed from head to toe in silver armor. Ash continued running down the hallway, and the guards was hot on his trail. One of them raised a small laser gun and fired at him. Ash managed to dodge the blast and continued running. He bolted through a glass door and kept running. A large statue of an angel sat against the wall to the right of him. He quickly ran over to the angel and picked it up.  
  
"There he is, get him!" the armor guards came bursting through the glass door. Ash swiftly threw the angel with all his might. It smacked into the guards and sent them all hurling through the glass door and into the wall in the hallway. Ash quickly took off again while the guards struggled to regain their senses. Suddenly, more guards came out of a ceiling vent and fell on him. They quickly stuck him with a tranquilzer, rendering him unconscious.  
  
"C'mon, let's get him in the cell," one of the guards said.  
  
"Right," his partner, a woman, replied. They lifted him up and began carrying him down the hall. They reached an intersection and veered right. A sign on the wall read 'To Lockup'.  
  
A new scene flashed through. A golden dueling arena was situated in the center of the golden dome. Ash's mother, Delia, was dueling against Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters. Delia had showed up just in time to try and save her son from Pegasus's clutches, and Pegasus cut a deal with her: defeat him in a duel and Ash can return with her back home. Lose, and he would remain there. There was also a catch: the loser of the duel would be put to death... Although Delia knew the life-threatening risk, she accepted his challenge and the deathmatch began. Pegasus surprisingly left Ash unbound, but if he snuck off from the match, his mother would be put to death instantly. Both Delia and Pegasus had chains latched around their ankles, and when one of them lost, a 10,000 volt electrical charge would dispense from the chain and shock the person. And guess what? Pegasus was blowing Delia out.  
  
Pegasus's/Delia's Life Points- 1600 (Pegasus)/400 (Delia)  
  
"Well, Delia baby, I believe it's your turn to move," said Pegasus. He began giggling afterwards.  
  
[C'mon Mama, I know it looks grim but you can do it. You have to it, Mama. You've never let me down before, and I know you won't let me down now, either.]  
  
Delia drew a card from deck, which revealed itself to be a Dark Magician. [Hmm... this card's stronger than Pegasus's Lionman, so it's the perfect card to play.]  
  
However, Pegasus used the power of the Millenium Eye to peep in on what she was about to play. "Ahh... yes, a Dark Magician. Pretty powerful, but nothing compared to my cards," he laughed.  
  
Delia was puzzled. How did he know what she was going to play before she played it? Did he possess some kind of psychic power? Or what it some kind of hidden scanner that he secretly installed to scan her card while she was drawing it? Either way, she had to figure how to get around this disadvantage, or else, she and her son was in trouble. She placed the Dark Magician down and loaded it onto the field.  
  
Attack Power- 2500 Defense Power- 2100  
  
"And what, I'm supposed to tremble now, because you summoned a Dark Magician?"  
  
"It had much more strength than that Lionman you have on the field. Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" The Dark Magician thrusted its staff out, releasing the attack. But Pegasus flipped up a surprise magic card.  
  
"Not so fast," he said in a sing-song fashion. "I'm invoking the power of Negate Attack!"  
  
The attack struck the magical force, which absorbed the attack and dissappeared.  
  
"Weren't looking for that, were you, Delia baby?"  
  
"Don't call me baby!" Delia shouted, which made Maximillion laugh heartily. "And now I shall play the rare Monster Replace card, which allows me to exchange my Lionman for your Dark Magcian. In other words, your monster's mine and mine is yours," he said and laughed even more. The two monsters on the field swapped places, and the Dark Magician was now on Pegasus's side of the field, and the Lionman was on Delia's side.  
  
"No! Pegasus, you know you're not playing fair! You're using super cards that are forbidden among other players, and you somehow know what I'm going to play before I even play it! You're cheating!"  
  
"Yes, I know, but there isn't anything you can do about it," Maximillion burst into more laughter, then called out to his monster, "Dark Magic Attack!" The Dark Magician thrusted out the staff, and the weird attack hit the Lionman and forced it to shriek uncontrollably before shattering, 0 life point remaining.  
  
"NO!" she gasped, and Maximillion cackled sinisterly.  
  
"Well, it seems you've run out of life points, and you know what happens next," he smiled evily as the chains latched around Delia's legs tightened, and some more latched around her arms, which paralyzed her.  
  
"Pegasus, no matter how hard you try, I won't let you take my son!!"  
  
"But, sugarbaby, I'm afraid there's nothing you can do."  
  
"Ash, go, get out of here!" Delia shouted to her son.  
  
"But..." Ash started to object, but she ordered him to run.  
  
"Go!! Now!!!" Ash nodded and ran down from the platform, and several chains lashed out. Ash dodged five of them, but one succeeded to grab his leg. This made him fall to the ground facedown. Ash tried to get back up, but the other chains grabbed him and restrained him. Maximillion Pegasus made his way over to the platform, smirking and snickering.  
  
"Yes, Delia, it looks as though I've won. You're going to die, and I will harness your son's special power for purposes of my own."  
  
Delia spit in his face, making him a little angry. "Not on my life!" she yelled defiantly, and Maximillion slapped her in the face afterwards.  
  
"Sayanora, Delia," he said and pushed a button on a remote control and a force field formed around her. Then, 10,000 volts of electricity erupting on the chains, and shocked Delia severely. She screamed in pain.  
  
"MOTHER!!!!" Ash yelled, but he could do nothing to help her. He stared with his eyes bucked opened and watched as his mother slipped away. Before she passed on she gave him one last, heartwarming smile, then her eyes closed and she passed on.  
  
"Mother..." Ash's eyes began filling with tears as her lifeless body was only held up by the chains. "NO!!!!!" Ash screamed in pain. Tears began to rain down his face.  
  
Maximillion was obviously untouched, as he burst out into laughter. "That was one of the most heartwrenching live performences, ever!"  
  
"You monster!! How do you live with yourself?!!"  
  
"Oh, it's quite easy, actually," Maximillion remarked, snickering. He then turned to the nearby guards. "Take the boy to the Laboratory, please," he ordered and watched as they approached Ash, preparing to take him. Suddenly, three razor-edged boomerangs struck the guards in their necks and killed them instantly. Maximillion looked around in surprise.  
  
"Who's there?!" he called out while looking around. More boomerangs came flying out of nowhere and cut the chains, releasing Ash. Afterwards, a flying kick struck Maximillion in the face and sent him crashing into the wall behind him.  
  
"Get out of here, now!" the figure (who was a man) yelled to Ash.  
  
"But, who are you?"  
  
"That doesn't matter, just go!! I'll deal with Pegasus!!" the man shouted and Ash took off as fast as he could, dashing out of the room.  
  
Maximillion sat up and activated his intercom. "The prisoner is escaping via hallway 634. Stop him now!!" he gave out the order, then stood to face the man. He tried to fight him, but the man whipped him.  
  
Meanwhile, Ash darted down the hallway as fast as he could. Tons of guards chased after him. Without warning, a small explosive (located where the guards was) blew out the wall, and killed the majority of the guards in the process. Ash turned around and appraoched the opening. He was two stories in the air, but he took a chance and leaped out of the building. He hit the ground harshly, but he didn't break anything. Ash wasted no time and began running as far away from the castle as he could.  
  
(End Dream Sequence)  
  
Ash shot up out of bed in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily, and his heart paced quickly. He put his hand over his chest, feeling the rapid thumping of his heart from underneath. His shirt was moist, and so was his shorts and even the pillow in which he was resting his head on. Ash began taking deep breaths to calm himself down. It was all a dream. It was all just a dream. But, it seemed and felt like it was actually happening again. He felt all the fear, all the sadness, all the distress, everything. It was as if he was actually re-living something that had happened to him. Ash got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth thoroughly and turned on the bathtub. It filled in less than 20 seconds, then he stripped of his clothes and stepped inside. He sunk down into the water, only his head appearing on the surface.  
  
A specialized, tightly concentrated and harmless blue beam as wide as the tub appeared out of the northern side of the tub (where the faucet is). It spread through the water, cleansing Ash's body of any dirt. It stayed focused on Ash's body for about 10 seconds, then dissappeared. Ash decided to take it easy and relax. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, then exhaled the air. The dream rekindled a question he had forgotten. Who was the man that saved him? Why did he do it? Could he have been a long lost brother or cousin? Or maybe he intended to break him free of Pegasus's clutched then capture him afterwards? Ash never knew why the man showed up, but he certainly appreciated it. Ash only wished he could've came in time to save his mother, the woman who gave her life to save him. Ash decided to stop thinking about what happened and just calm down. He continued to breathe in and out.  
  
Without warning, Maximillion Pegasus appeared floating at the entryway. However, since he was floating, Ash didn't hear him. He didn't see him either, because Ash had his eyes closed. He continued inhaling and exhaling deeply, and Pegasus slowly floated closer to the tub. Once he was right next to Ash, Pegasus just floated there, watching him. Ash's eyes were still closed and he continued breathing in and out. Once he exhaled, Pegasus suddenly dunked Ash's head underwater, grabbed his neck, and held him under the surface. Since he was exhaling, his mouth was open, letting in water. Bubbles emerged from his mouth for a short period of time. Ash's eyes snapped open and he closed his mouth. Pegasus laughed sinisterly as Ash struggled to get away. He tried prying Pegasus's hand away from around his neck, but to no avail. For some odd reason, Pegasus possessed supernatural strength and his hands wouldn't loosen. Ash continued struggling, and Pegasus laughed even more. The water sloshed and splashed everywhere as Ash struggled to get away. He tried kicking Pegasus, but his leg went right through him. Pegasus laughed harder and heartily.  
  
"Guess your day has come! Did you really think I would let you get away so easily?!" he continued laughing as Ash tried to get away. He wriggled furiously, trying to shake off Pegasus's hand, but to no avail. Ash thought of one last idea and dug his hand into Pegasus's.  
  
"AHH!!" Pegasus shrieked (high-pitched) and released his grip. He dissappeared as Ash sprung up out of the water, coughing and gasping for air. He tried catching his breath and continued coughing. 20 seconds passed before he stopped. Ash got out of the tub and drain it hastily, dried himself, then darted out of the room. A small note was attached on the wall in front of him, which read: 'Go to your backyard. I've left a little something for you... Pegasus.' Ash pondered this thought. Did he really want to go see what is was? It could be another deathtrap. But what if it wasn't? What if it was something else?  
  
[I'm not scared of Pegasus.] Ash thought to himself and grabbed a laser gun out of his nightstand. He clenched it tightly, but before he left he slipped on a pair of gray boxers and slipped on his S.C.T. He opened the bedroom door and made his way through the house until he reached the kitchen, where the backdoor was. He opened it, then stepped outside. The sun greeted him by blinding his sight with bright light. Ash's shielded his eyes and slowly walked outside, looking around. Apparently, there wasn't any deathtraps set, but there wasn't any in the bathroom either.  
  
[As a matter of a fact there wasn't any Pegasus there, either. He just appeared out of thin air.] Ash saw another note on the ground. It read: 'Go to the Bass Lake. Under the surface is something you should see...' Ash sighed and ran straight forward. The forest was just beyond his backyard. Once Ash reached the fence he jumped over it and continued running. It didn't take him 3 minutes to reach the lake, and there was yet another note pinned to a nearby rock. It read: 'Once you jump into the lake, swim straight down to claim the prize...' Ash pondered this carefully before jumping in. Pegasus could have another supernatual trap waiting for him. What if that's the 'prize' mentioned in the note? Ash took a leap of faith and jumped into the water. He surfaced to gather his breath, then submerged himself.  
  
Underwater, he followed the instructions on the note and begam swimming straight down as fast as he could. Many bass fish swam by him, hence the name Bass Lake. Ash kicked his feet swiftly, continuing down to wherever. The laser gun was still in his hand, and Ash was sure it would get him out of whatever Pegasus might've had planned. Ash swam as far as he could. Once he reached the floor, a sign with instructons on it was stamped in the floor. It said: 'Dig through the ground to unravel the mystery...' Ash quickly began digging through the ground. He squinted his eyes to prevent the dust and dirt from getting inside them. Suddenly, his hand bumped something, a button. Ash pressed the button and suddenly the ground broke through. The naked body of his dead mother sprung out of it. A patch of dead roses laid next to her. Her eyes were opened and staring right at him, and her lips had been forced to smile.  
  
"AHHH!!!!" Ash couldn't help but scream. Bubbles flowed out of his mouth as he screamed in horror.  
  
Meanwhile, in Pegasus's mansion Maximillion Pegasus was watching Ash via his tv. He burst out into laughter when he saw Ash's reaction.  
  
"Oh, this is wonderful!" he continued laughing as hard as he could, highly amused and not the least bit remorseful.  
  
Ash quickly caught himself and accessed his S.C.T. He transported an oxygen mask and put it on with haste, then took in a large amount of air. He couldn't believe it. He knew Pegasus was sick, but not that sick. Ash noticed a card was laying across his mother's stomach. He turned his head. He wanted to respect his mother's privacy, even if she was dead. He did not want to see her fully uncovered breasts. Ash closed his eyes and rubbed his hand across her stomach until he grabbed the card, then opened his eyes, being careful not to open them with in the direction of his mother. The card had a message on it, which said this: 'Special from Duel Monsters creator Maximillion Pegasus... Congratulations, Ash Ketchum! You are one of the select few who have been invited to enter the Duel Monsters tournament free of charge. Normally people pay $15.00 dollars to register for the shindig, but you, Ash Ketchum, can attend without paying a dime. I've been watching you duel and I must say you are simply incredible! Think you have what is takes to defeat me? Your special boat ride will leave in two days. Toodles...'  
  
Ash stored the invitation cards and took one last look at his mother, Delia Ketchum. A strong, kind, and courageous woman who gave her life trying to save him from Pegasus. Ash stiffled a sob and thrusted himself away from the floor, determined to kill Pegasus. Ash reached the surface and his head popped out of the water. He pulled off the mask and stored it in the device, then climbed out of the lake. His boxers were soaked, and so was he. Ash stumbled to his feet and began making his way towards the house, with only one thing on his mind, kill Pegasus.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Tristan slipped on his white a-shirt and walked out of his bedroom. He had gotten permission from Munella to register for the tournament, and he did just that. He started to walk downstairs but remebered that Industrial Illusions was suppose to send him his card around 1000 hours (10:00 am). He walked back to his room and went inside. Tristan made his way over to his computer and sat down. He turned it on and connected himself to the virtual internet (think of the internet in 3D). He checked his mailbox to find that the card had been sent to him. He accessed the card, and told it to come out through his Subspace Transporter. The machine activated, and a box appeared on the blue spotlight. Tristan grabbed the box and opened it. Low and behold, the now repaired Gamma Dragon was inside. Tristan smiled and took the card out of the box and slipped it in his pocket. He had to go duel Brock, and now. Tristan bolted out of the room and raced downstairs.  
  
"Munella, I'm heading over to Brock's house!"  
  
"Allright, be careful!" Munella shouted from the living room. Tristan ran out of the house and down the street until he reached Brock's house. Surprisingly, Brock was outside waxing his father's car (he was wearing the same thing as Episode 01).  
  
"There, that should do it."  
  
"Hey there, Brock!"  
  
Brock turned to see Tristan walking towards him. "What's up, Tristan? How are you?!" Brock gave his best friend a hug.  
  
"I'm fine, how about you?"  
  
"I'm good," Brock replied. "So, what brings you to my house?"  
  
"I'm just coming to see my friend," said Tristan as he peeped through the windows of Flint's car.  
  
"How'd your date with Lorelei go last night?"  
  
Tristan rolled his eyes. "We went down to a club to do a little dancing and she led me to a table with another boy sitting there. She told me he was her other boyfriend and that she wanted to have a 3sm, needless to say I ran."  
  
"Eww..." Brock's face cringed in disgust. "I don't want her now."  
  
"Did you register for the tournament?"  
  
"Not yet. I had to convince my father first. It took awhile, but Father eventually decided to let me go, especially after I told him why I was going."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To win money and get his back and shoulders operated on," Brock picked up wax buckets and began carrying them to the garage.  
  
"Oh," Tristan followed him. When they reached the garage, the door slid opened and Brock walked inside to drop off the wax buckets.  
  
"Did you register?" asked Brock.  
  
"Oh yeah! I'm already in! Man, I hope I win. I'd love to have 100 million dollars right now."  
  
"So would I," Brock responded.  
  
"Hey Brock, wanna have a little duel?"  
  
Brock came back out of the garage and smiled. "I'm up for it. We could use some practice anyway before the grand championship. C'mon, we can have a duel in the backyard," Brock said and headed back to the backyard, Tristan following him.  
  
[Now Brock wil see how strong I really am, and that his last win was pure luck.] Tristan smirked.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
The speedboat with Li and Meilin on it raced toward Pewter City. Both of them had gotten up early in the morning to resume their journey. They had clothes on now, Meilin was wearing some pink leather short-shorts and a white tube top. Her hair was done into two crinkled pigtails. Li had on some khaki shorts and a orange jersey. Meilin was driving the boat today.  
  
"I never knew driving a boat could be such fun," she mused.  
  
Li laughed and said, "Fun? Boat driving is not fun. You don't really do anything except mash the pedals and occasionally steer. Driving a car is more fun."  
  
"Whatever you say, Li. I still think boat driving's fun though. (slight pause) Li, could you hand me another piece of gum?"  
  
"What happened to the gum in your mouth? You didn't spit it out into the ocean, did you?"  
  
"No, I swallowed it."  
  
"How? Swallowing gum is hard," Li said and reached into his pocket to grab the gum. He pulled it out and gave it to Meilin.  
  
"Thanks," she opened it and popped it into her mouth. "So, did you enjoy sleeping naked underwater last night?" (they did that after Episode 02 went off)  
  
"Yeah, it was fun. And if we don't be in Pewter City tonight, wanna do it again?"  
  
"You bet!" Meilin and Li laughed and smiled at each other. Meilin popped up yet another question. "Li?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I was wondering... um... well uh..."  
  
"Wondering what?"  
  
"Okay Li, don't be freaked by my asking this, but have you ever done it before?"  
  
"Done what?"  
  
"You know..."  
  
"No, I don't know," Li was beginning to get confused. "Have I done what?"  
  
"...You know..."  
  
"Meilin, I can't answer your question if I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Okay, okay. I wanted to know, have you ever had sex?  
  
"Hunh?!"  
  
"That's my question. Have you ever had sex before?"  
  
"Of course not! I'm only fifteen!" Li exclaimed, then realized where Meilin might be coming from. "Have you?"  
  
"No, no, I haven't. That's why I wanted to know if you had."  
  
"Nope, haven't ever did it before."  
  
"Good!" Meilin patted Li's back and continued driving the boat. They leaned over and began french kissing ravenously.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Brock and Tristan stood opposite of each other in a grassy area. Both of them sat down their Holochips and activated them, which materialized a gold (Brock's) and platinum (Tristan's) dueling consoles. They carefully shuffled their deck three times, then sat them down in the appropiate spot. They looked up at each other and smiled.  
  
"It's been quite awhile since our last duel, Brock. Are you ready?" Tristan spoke.  
  
"Of course, let's just hope you haven't gotten rusty," Brock said.  
  
"Don't worry, I haven't. In fact, I believe I've gotten better."  
  
"Time to find out if you've really got better, ready?"  
  
"Time to duel!" they both shouted simutaneously, eyeing each other down.  
  
Brock's/Tristan's Life Points- 2000  
  
"Allright Tristan, since you're the challenger, you get the priviledge of making the first move."  
  
"Good," Tristan pulled five cards from the deck, forming his current hand. He looked through them, but most of them were weak cards. "Rats. Well, gotta play something."  
  
"I can tell from the look on your face that you've drawn some feeble cards."  
  
"I'll put down one monster in defense mode!" Tristan placed the card and summoned it to the field. The spot where the monster hid flashed white repeatedly.  
  
"Hmm... it must be a weak card. I've never seen anyone place down a lone monster in defense mode on their opening move."  
  
"Don't be so sure, Brock. I could be tricking you," Tristan countered.  
  
"Well, we'll see," Brock shot back and drew his five cards, looking over them afterwards. His first draw proved to be more worthy than Tristan's. He picked up two cards and placed them down.  
  
"I'll play one card face-down, and another in attack mode!" Brock's monster loaded in, revealing itself to be Reaper of The Cards.  
  
Attack Power- 1300 Defense Power- 1500  
  
"Reaper, attack Tristan's defense card, now!" The Soul Reaper hummed deeply as it flew toward the defense monster. The monster (Baby Dragon) loaded in with its eyes popped open in fear. The Reaper took its razor-sharp blade and slashed the dragon multiple times, which shattered it. No life points were lost.  
  
"You were lucky, Brock. I drew some rather weak cards on my first draw, but..." Tristan reached down and drew another card from the deck. "Now the strong cards are showing up. I play this card, Magic/Trap Poacher! It rids the opponent of any Magic Cards or Trap Cards they have in play and gives them to me!" Tristan laughed hard as Brock's hidden card teleported from his console to Tristan's console.  
  
"And now..." Tristan drew another card from the deck and smiled upon looking at it. "I shall play your card face-down and bring out the Lightning Swordsman, in attack mode!" The Lightning Swordsman looked exactly like its cousin card, Flame Swordsman, except its sword had a lightning emblem on it instead of a fire emblem, and it wore a white and purple instead of blue and red.  
  
Attack Power- 1800 Defense Power- 1500  
  
"Go, Lightning Swordsman, attack the Reaper of The Cards! Lightning Sword of Battle!" The Lightning Swordsman charged at the Reaper with its sword raised in the air. Lightning covered it and the monster cut clean through the ghost. Reaper howled in extreme pain before exploding.  
  
Brock's Life Points- 1750  
  
Tristan smiled in satisfaction. "Reaper of The Cards has been vanquished."  
  
"A minor setback. This duel is far from over, Tristan." Brock looked through his hand and found the card he was looking for. He drew it and threw it on the console. "Thunder Rabbit, in attack mode!" Brock's furry rabbit loaded onto the field. It looked just like a bunny, except its ears where shaped like lightning strikes.  
  
Attack Power- 1800 Defense Power- 1600  
  
"It's a even match, Tristan. Unless you wanna lose your monster too, I don't think you'll be attacking."  
  
Tristan shook his head. "Tsk. Tsk. You know, I don't think you're giving it your all, Brock. That was a big mistake."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Tristan drew a card from his hand. "Wanna know why? Because when I add a certain magic card to my monster, its offensive strength will be raised 800 points!"  
  
A gasp of surprise came from Brock. Tristan slapped down the magic card and lots of lightning sparked from the swordsman. Lightning came from the sky and poured into the sword, powering it up.  
  
Attack Power- 2600  
  
"Now, let's get rid of the bunny, shall we? Super Lightning Blast!!" The Lightning Swordsman thrusted out his sword, and lightning poured out of it. The bolt struck the Thunder Rabbit and obliterated it off the field.  
  
Brock's Life Points- 1400  
  
"Brock, the duel just started and you're lagging behind. Normally, I could never get a 600 point difference between us. What's the matter?"  
  
Brock sighed deeply. "Allright, you wanna know, Tristan? I'm worried about my father."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"He came down with a bad cold a week ago, and it isn't gone yet. He try to act like he's fine, but I know Father, and I know something's wrong with him."  
  
"Brock, you can't stress over that. Sometimes colds last a long time, I once had a cold that didn't go away completely..."  
  
"No, that's not the problem. With each passing day..." Brock's voice began to trail off.  
  
"Brock, don't wuss out now, what's wrong with him?"  
  
"Father's getting worse, Tristan," Brock announced.  
  
"What? What do you mean?"  
  
"He tries to cover it up and act like everything's fine, but I can tell he's getting worse. Last night, I heard him vomiting for like, ten minutes straight."  
  
"Oh, man, I'm sorry. Have you talked to him about it yet?"  
  
"No, well, I've tried, but he denies it. I don't want anything to happen to him. I've lost Mother already, I don't think I could take it if I lost him too..." Brock dropped to the ground. Tristan rushed over to him and patted his back.  
  
"Don't worry man, he'll be allright. Just... give him time. Everything'll work out, you'll see. You have to believe," Tristan kneeled down beside Brock.  
  
"Thanks, Tristan... It seems like you always know what to say and when to say."  
  
"Glad to be of assistance. Well, Brock, do you wanna finish the duel? It may help lift your spirits."  
  
"Allright, I'll try," Brock got up and so did Tristan. Tristan took his place and pointed at Brock.  
  
"I believe it was your turn."  
  
Brock drew a card from his deck, which revealed itself to a Dark Magician. Pretty powerful, but it still wasn't strong enough to take down the Lightning Swordsman. Brock drew for another card, and it was exactly what he wanted.  
  
"Allright, I'll play the Dark Magician, in attack mode! And I'm laying down a magic card which further increases its strength!" Brock slapped down these two cards, and the Dark Magician was summoned to the field.  
  
Attack Power- 2800 Defense Power- 2100  
  
"Say adios to the Lightning Swordsman! Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" Brock commanded. The Dark Magician rose its staff to the sky and fired a deadly and powerful beam straight at the Lightning Swordsman. Tristan was unphased.  
  
"Not so fast, Brock! I stole your card, remeber? And I'm going to use it! Go, Mirror Wall!" Tristan flipped up the trap card, causing a pinkish, purplish, and whitish crystal wall to rise out of the ground. The Dark Magician's attack struck the wall and mesmerized it, then the attack power began draining.  
  
Attack Power- 1400  
  
"As you can see, Mirror Wall cut your Dark Magician's attack power in half, leaving it an open target to my Lightning Swordsman! Super Lightning Blast!" Tristan shouted, and the monster obeyed his will. It fired a lightning bolt out of the sword and shocked the magician to death (shatters).  
  
Brock's Life Points- 1000  
  
"1000 life points behind, Brock, you have got to battle harder."  
  
"Allright, Tristan, if that's how you want it, that's how you'll get it," Brock stated and drew a card from his deck, revealing itself to be Dungeon Worm. `This could be useful, especially when combine with Monster Tamer. Hopefully, that's the next card in my deck. Brock drew for it and low and behold, he held the Monster Tamer in his hand.  
  
"I've got the perfect cards! Go, Dungeon Worm, and Monster Tamer in attack mode!!" Brock threw down the cards, summoning the beasts. "And since the Monster is on the field, my Dungeon Worm gets 600 more attack points."  
  
Attack Power- 2800(Worm), 1600(Tamer) Defense Power- 1900(Worm), 1300(Tamer)  
  
"Gooo, Dungeon Worm, attack the Lightning Swordsman now!!"  
  
"Brock, you forgot about the Mirror Wall, it stops any attack against my monsters."  
  
"No, Tristan, you're wrong. It stops any attack aimed from outside the wall, but what happens when my monster get behind the wall where yours are at?" Brock gave Tristan a smirk, and Tristan gasped.  
  
"Oh no..."  
  
Dungeon Worm shot up out of the ground directly where Lightning Swordsman was standing. The swordsman fell into the giant worm's mouth; the worm ate it whole, then it retreated back into the ground.  
  
Tristan's Life Points- 1550  
  
"Take that, Tristan!"  
  
"You may have been lucky enough to get rid of my Lightning Swordsman, but I'm still in the lead," Tristan said and drew for a card. His smile grew in a huge grin upon looking at the card. "Allright, Brock, prepare yourself for the destructive, all-powerful, mega-collossal, one and only Gamma Dragon!!" Tristan shouted at the top of his lungs, slapping down the card.  
  
Brock grabbed his forehead. "This is really bad!"  
  
Tristan's most powerful card loaded into the duel, its chilling roar announcing its presence. The Gamma Dragon was a huge, massive monster that stood 70 ft. tall. It looked alot like the legendary T-Rex, except it had two heads. One head had four eyes that formed a square, and the other head had one, huge eye.  
  
Attack Power- 4200 Defense Power- 4200  
  
"Now, Gamma Dragon, attack the Monster Tamer now, Quintuple Gamma Ray Blast!!" Each of the five eyes shot out one green, highly concentrated, highly focused beam. They all merged into one and blew the Monster Tamer to smithereens. The blast genereated a powerful shockwave that nearly knocked Brock over.  
  
Brock's Life Points- 400  
  
"Ouch, that had to hurt," Tristan teased. Suddenly, Brock's pager beeped. Brock pulled the pager off his pants and looked at the message, which said 'Get to the house right now! Your Dad.' Brock's facial expression turned into one of stress as he ran away from the duel and toward the house.  
  
"What's wrong?!" asked Tristan.  
  
"We've gotta finish the duel later!! Father said to get inside, quickly!!" Brock bolted through the door, leaving Tristan outside by himself. He decided to see what was going on and ran inside the house also.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Downtown Domino City. In an dirty alleyway, all sorts of trashcans and dirty puddles of water found themselves here. A few cats skulked through the alleys, looking for innocent mice to eat. All seemed calmed, and spooky at the same time. A man around the age of 22 sprinted through the alley, panting heavily. Not long after another man came dashing through. He was wearing a cloak, so no one could see who it was underneath. The man veered left through the alleyway and continued running from the cloaked guy. He stopped and picked up a trashcan, then threw it into the cloaked man, which knocked him to the ground. He began running again.  
  
"Hey, come back here!" The cloaked guy shouted, kicking the trashcan off of him. He jumped up and began chasing after the man once again. "Man, I hate cloaks! They're so heavy!" he muttered to himself. The man accidently tripped over a rock and fell down. He turned over to see the cloak man approaching him. He kicked the man in the chest and flipped to his feet. He threw a punch at the cloak guy, who ducked then avoided two more punches. The cloaked man caught the other man's arm when he tried throwing another punch. He kneed him in the stomach and roundhouse kicked him, knocking him down. He sat on him and began choking him.  
  
"Now, I'm going to ask nicely, how do you open the vault?"  
  
The man gagged and tried prying the cloaked guy's hand off of him. The guy pressed more firmly, choking off even more air.  
  
"How do you open the vault?!" he demanded to know.  
  
"I.... can't... tell..... you...... an..."  
  
The guy released his deadly grip on the man. The man began coughing and sucking in air. He gripped his throat.  
  
"Now, let's do this again..." he whipped out a knife. "Where is the money? Is it in the vault?"  
  
"....yes, it's in the vault," the man confirmed.  
  
"Well, then, how do you open it?"  
  
"I can't tell you that."  
  
The guy held the knife right on the man's throat. "Oh yeah? If you don't tell me where that money is, I'll gut you alive, you understand me?"  
  
The man nodded, fear growing on his face.  
  
"How do you open the vault?"  
  
"It... you have to type in the secret combination, only then can you access the vault and the money inside."  
  
"Well, what's the secret combo?"  
  
"You have to type in this code, 6-4-7-2-7-4-9-1-6, then the doors shall open and you'll have access to all the money."  
  
"6-4-7-2-7-4-9-1-6, huh? This better be the right info you're giving me, or else you're shippin' out of Earth," he pushed the man's head on the ground.  
  
"Hey, leave him alone!!" The guy looked up to find a blonde chick running at him. She punched him into the face and tackled him to the ground. She snatched his cloak off and Seto Kaiba was underneath it.  
  
"Daisy, no! He has a knife!!" the man shouted.  
  
Daisy was about to punch him, but Seto stuck the knife up in Daisy's stomach, stopping her attack. Her eyes popped open as blood began trickling out the wound.  
  
"Daisy!!"  
  
Seto pulled the cloak over his face, tossed her aside and darted away before the man could catch him. The man kneeled down beside her.  
  
"Daisy, Daisy, it's allright! Hang on, don't die!!" he whipped out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1.  
  
Later on, the paramedics came and retrieved Daisy, then took her to the nearest hospital. Her boyfriend, John, managed to control the bleeding and rode with her. However, he wasn't allowed to come into the E.R when they arrived at the hospital. A few police officers had come into the waiting room to question him.  
  
"Now, sir, don't be alarmed, we just wanna ask you a couple a questions, that's all."  
  
"Uh, uh, allright," John seated himself in a nearby chair.  
  
"Allright, now sir, what's your name?" the officer, which was a woman, asked him.  
  
"John. John Richardson."  
  
"Okay, now, Mr. Richardson, can you tell me what happened?"  
  
"Well, I was coming home from my office, but my car ran out of battery power, so I decided to try and find the nearest charger station so I could get someone to tow my car to it, then I could recharge my electric power and get going."  
  
"Where were you going?"  
  
"Home, I gave myself some vacation time and I was going home to relax."  
  
"So, what happened next?"  
  
"Well, uh, I walked pass an alley and some guy pulled me in and began attacking me, but I managed to get away. I ran from him because he was armed with various knives. But, he caught me and held me down. He told me he would, to quote his exact words, 'gut me alive' if I didn't tell him how to access my treasure vault."  
  
"And what happened afterwards?"  
  
"I told him, because I feared he would kill me, and uh, my girlfriend, Daisy Chase happened to see us in the alley and she ran and tried to stop him. I told her to get away, but she wouldn't listen, and he stabbed her with his knife. She managed to pull off his cloak, but since she was on top of him, I couldn't see his face. He put the cloak over his face after he stabbed and ran off. The back of his head was out though, he had brown hair."  
  
"Brown hair? Was it long? Short?"  
  
"It was a common, short hairstyle."  
  
"Okay, anything else?"  
  
"No."  
  
The police officer finished typing notes in her padd and put it away. "Okay, are you sure there isn't anything else you can tell us?"  
  
"Yes, officer. That's everything."  
  
"Allright, then. We'll investigate this matter and see what we can come up with."  
  
"Thank you," John watched the officer leave the room and sat back, sighing. He hoped the doctors could save his honey...  
  
**************************************************************************** ************************************************************************  
  
Well, that's it! What did you think? Was it good? I sure hope so. I put a lot of effort into it. I wonder why nobody's read and reviewed the book yet? It's a good book; I wonder why no one's giving it a chance. I hope at least someone's out there reading this. Anyway, what's going to happen next episode? Will Daisy survive? And who was spying on Misty? Just what do Ash plan to do to Pegasus? And why did Pegasus keep mentioning something about a special power? Why was he bent on taking him to the labs? Who was the man that rescued Ash and why did he do it? What's wrong with Brock's father? What kind of ties do Meilin and Li have with Tristan and Brock? Ooh, this book has so many possibilities! This is just a taste of the mysteries, action, and drama that I'm going to put in this book. Be sure to look for Episode 04, 'Let's Get Ready' in a week or two. 


	4. Episode 04, 'Let's Get Ready'

And now... the moment you've been waiting for. The next episode in the Duelists of The Future Series. I guarantee this is going to be a great episode. I updated sooner than I expected, especially due to the fact that my sister is slways unsing her labtop. I'm going to try to get my parents to get me my own computer, but I doubt that'll happen. We just have too many bills to be paying for with a limited amount of funds. Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed that I included a 'previously' in the beginning of last episode, and I've included one here too. I do this to round up all the major storylines in one area, to save people the trouble of having to read through previous episodes to try and catch up. This is especially useful for people who haven't read in awhile and wants to find out what's going on right then and there. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.  
  
Disclaimer: I forgot to do one in Episode 03, so I'll make it up here. I don't own Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, or Cardcaptors, these are properties of 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and anyone else. I am merely borrowing these characters for my fic. Again, I don't own Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, or Cardcaptors, these are properties of 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and anyone else. I am merely borrowing these characters for my fic.  
  
  
  
Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 04, 'Let's Get Ready'  
  
  
  
Previously...  
  
Surge Crusher... (thoughts) What could he do? Maybe he could convince his father to let him go.  
  
[Robert would never do that. He thinks if I stay in jail long enough I'll regret what I did. He dead wrong. I don't regret it, as a matter of a fact, Daddy's making it worse, for Tristan that is...]  
  
* * *  
  
Misty Chase... Misty pressed a green button which turned it on instantly, then typed out a letter which said she wanted to enter into the Crystal Kingdom Tournament. She e-mailed that to Industrial Illusions, then sighed.  
  
"I'm finally in," she said. She got out of the chair and sauntered over to her closet, opening the door. She looked through various outfits hanging in the closet. "Now, what should I pack? The cruise ship is going to set sail in two days, what should I bring along?" As she pondered the idea, someone spied on her out of the nearby Sycamore Tree in the backyard...  
  
* * *  
  
Maximillion Pegasus... There, a picture of his dead wife, Cecilia Pegasus hung on the wall. He approached the picture, rubbing his hand across it. Cecilia had blonde hair and was wearing a elegant gold dress.  
  
"Soon," he said softly. "Just soon, my beloved Cecilia, I shall have you back. Once I collect all six Talismans of Life shall I resurrect you, and you shall once again walketh the earth." (Trust me, there's more to this thant it appears, can't tell you though) * * *  
  
Ash Ketchum... Maximillion Pegasus made his way over to the platform, smirking and snickering.  
  
"Yes, Delia, it looks as though I've won. You're going to die, and I will harness your son's special power for purposes of my own."  
  
Delia spit in his face, making him a little angry. "Not on my life!" she yelled defiantly, and Maximillion slapped her in the face afterwards.  
  
"Sayanora, Delia," he said and pushed a button on a remote control and a force field formed around her. Then, 1,000 volts of electricity erupting on the chains, and shocked Delia severely. She screamed in pain.  
  
"MOTHER!!!!" Ash yelled, but could do nothing to help her. He stared, eyes bucked opened as his mother slipped away, she gave him one last, heartwarming smile before her eyes closed and she passed on...  
  
Ash continued struggling, and Pegasus laughed even more. The water sloshed and splashed everywhere as Ash struggled to get away. He tried kicking Pegasus, but his leg went right through him. Pegasus laughed harder and heartily.  
  
"Guess your day has come!" he continued laughing as Ash tried to get away. He wriggled furiously, trying to shake off Pegasus's hand, but to no avail. Ash thought of one last idea and dug his hand into Pegasus's.  
  
"AHH!!" Pegasus shrieked (high-pitched) and released his grip. He dissappeared as Ash sprung up out of the water, coughing and gasping for air.  
  
Ash pressed the button and suddenly the ground broke through, and the naked body of his dead mother sprung out of it. A patch of dead roses laid next to her. Her eyes were opened and staring right at him, and her lips had been forced to smile.  
  
"AHHH!!!!" Ash couldn't help but scream. Bubbles flowed out of his mouth as he screamed in horror. The card had a message on it, which said this: 'Special from Duel Monsters creator Maximillion Pegasus... Congratulations, Ash Ketchum! You are one of the select few who have been invited to enter the Duel Monsters tournament free of charge. Normally people pay $15.00 dollars to register for the shindig, but you, Ash Ketchum, can attend without paying a dime. I've been watching you duel and I must say you are simply incredible! Think you have what it takes to defeat me? Your special boat ride will leave in two days. Toodles...'  
  
* * *  
  
Brock Mowry... "Father's getting worse, Tristan," Brock announced.  
  
"What? What do you mean?"  
  
"He tries to cover it up and act like everything's fine, but I can tell he's getting worse. Last night, I heard him vomiting for like, ten minutes straight." (euphrarism)  
  
"Oh, man, I'm sorry. Have you talked to him about it yet?"  
  
"No, well, I've tried, but he denies it. I don't want anything to happen to him. I've lost Mother already, I don't think I could take it if I lost him too..."  
  
* * *  
  
Meilin Rae/Li Showron... Meilin: "I can't wait until we reach Pewter City."  
  
Li: "Yep, and see the look on Brock and Tristan's face when they finally see us again."  
  
"I just know they're going to be shocked out of their minds, because they haven't seen or heard from us in about 4 years!"  
  
"It's pretty exciting, isn't it?" asked Li. "Just imagine what they're going to look like when we show up again."  
  
"Yep, I can't wait till the day." Meilin added.  
  
* * *  
  
Seto Kaiba... Guy: "Well, what's the secret combo?"  
  
Man: "You have to type in this code, 6-4-7-2-7-4-9-1-6, then the doors shall open and you'll have access to all the money."  
  
"6-4-7-2-7-4-9-1-6, huh? This better be the right info you're giving me, or else you're shippin' out of Earth," he pushed the man's head on the ground.  
  
"Hey, leave him alone!!" The guy looked up to find a blonde chick running at him. She punched him into the face and tackled him to the ground. She snatched his cloak off and Seto Kaiba was underneath it.  
  
"Daisy, no! He has a knife!!" the man shouted.  
  
Daisy was about to punch him, but Seto stuck the knife up in Daisy's stomach, stopping her attack. Her eyes popped open as blood began trickling out the wound.  
  
"Daisy!!"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Brock rushed through the house, heading to Flint's bedroom. He had been paged, and Flint told him to hurry up and get to his room. Tristan followed Brock, wondering what was going on. As Brock approached the bedroom, his facial expression grew with more worry than ever. What was wrong? Why did Flint tell him to hurry up and get to the room? Was something bad happening to him? What if he was dying... Brock blotted out that thought and kicked the door open when he reached the room. Flint was lying on the bed, watching television. Brock ran to his side.  
  
"Father, are you okay? What did you want?"  
  
"Brock, son, I'm okay. Nothing's wrong with me, I just need you to fix me some lunch. I'm tired today," Flint replied.  
  
Brock's face began to lighten up. "That's all?"  
  
"Yeah, I didn't think you'd take my message so seriously."  
  
Brock sighed a sigh of relief. "That's a relief. So, what do you want for lunch? Some ham? Hotdogs? What?"  
  
"Fix me two hotdogs, with buns, and uh, load them up with ketchup and mustard. Oh, and uh, be sure to put some pickle relish on them."  
  
"Two hotdogs loaded with ketchup, mustard and pickle relish coming up on the double," Brock said, then turned and began walking out of the room. Tristan followed him.  
  
"Brock, I think you're worrying a bit too much about your Dad's health. He seems fine."  
  
"That's how he always act, but I know I heard him vomiting last night."  
  
"So what. He could've contracted a virus, you haven't asked."  
  
Brock and Tristan entered the kitchen, and Brock continued over to the fridge. He opened it and pulled out some hotdogs, then strolled to a Solarwave and opened it. The Solarwave was an oven that resembled a microwave, but it used focused solar waves to cook the food instead of focused micro waves. Brock popped the hotdogs in, and set the machine to cook for five seconds. After they cooked, he took them out and placed them on the countertop.  
  
"Brock, are we going to finish the duel? It's still running outside."  
  
"I don't know if I feel like it."  
  
Tristan scoffed. "You just don't feel like it because you were getting your butt kicked."  
  
"No, it's not that, I could've easily come back and won the match, I just... I don't know," Brock placed the hotdogs in the buns and began putting ketchup, mustard and pickle relish on them.  
  
"C'mon, Brock, I wanna finish it. I was winning. You were experiencing my true skills and power, and now that your Dad bailed you out with the lunch request, you don't wanna go back and face down your defeat like a man."  
  
"Shut up, Tristan. I told you I can still win."  
  
"How? I am untouchable on the field."  
  
"I'm not going to tell you how, and as a matter of a fact, we are going to finish the duel. Go outside and wait for me," Brock grabbed a plate out of a cabinet and put the hotdogs on them, then started heading back towards Flint's room to give him the food.  
  
"Allright, I'll wait, and you'd better come!" Tristan yelled after him, then walked out of the back door, taking his place. Not long after, Brock came out of the door and walked over to his podium, eager to finish the match.  
  
Tristan's/Brock's Life Points- 1550(Tristan), 400(Brock)  
  
"Well, Brock, I really don't see how you can get out of this one. You don't have a card powerful enough to even match the Gamma Dragon, let alone destroy it."  
  
"Wrong, Tristan. I can and I will bring down that dragon of yours."  
  
"I'd like to see you try."  
  
The only monsters on the field was Tristan's Gamma Dragon and Brock's Dungeon Worm, which lost its attack power bonus (of 2800) because Monster Tamer was destroyed (now its 2100).  
  
Brock began going over possible strategies. "Hmm... it's going to take a lot to match that dragon, but I know I've got a Ritual Card powerful enough to take it down. I just need to draw it," Brock drew for the card, and to his dismay, it wasn't the card he needed.  
  
"I'll throw out this in defense mode! And I'm switching the Dungeon Worm to defense mode as well!" Brock's card loaded in, revealing itself to be a Black Wizard. It looked just like the Black Witch (mentioned in Episode 03), the only difference is that it was the male version.  
  
Attack Power- 1200 Defense Power- 1000  
  
Tristan giggled in delight. "You don't have anything to defeat my monster. And if you can't beat one, what chance do you have against two?"  
  
"Two?! Where'd you get two from?!"  
  
Tristan slapped down the second Gamma Dragon, bringing it into battle. It stood right beside its relative, both of them growling ferociously.  
  
Attack Power- 4200 Defense Power- 4200  
  
"Where did you get two Gamma Dragons from? You only had one!"  
  
"I don't know why, but the Sheriff gave me Surge's four dragons, and I sent my broken card to Industrial Illusions. They fixed it, sent it back, and know I have all five Gamma Dragons ever made all to myself! Isn't that awesome?!"  
  
Brock didn't respond.  
  
"Gamma Dragon, destroy the Black Wizard with Quintuple Gamma Ray Blast!" The monster did as told and fired the five gamma rays out of its eyes, obliterating the Black Wizard in a huge explosion.  
  
"At least I didn't lose any life points," Brock muttered to himself.  
  
"Brock, with two Gamma Dragons on the field, you'll never win. Admit defeat," tease Tristan. He grinned from ear to ear. Brock knew he was in a dilemma, but he would not be defeated and lose his status as the champion of the neighborhood.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Misty and Aya walked down the street, talking about all sorts of 'girl stuff', i.e boys, makeup, fashions and clothes, that sort of stuff. The mysterious guy skulked in the shadows and watched Misty closely. Misty popped a sucker in her mouth and sucked on it while Aya babbled on about a crush she had on someone.  
  
"Oh my, he's sooo cute! I wish I could get closer and actually talk to him, but he's so busy all the time. He's always working out in the gym and practicing his basketball skills. Misty, what do you think I should do?"  
  
Misty took the sucker out of her mouth. "Talk to him."  
  
"Like I said, I would but he's so busy all the time."  
  
"So make up an excuse to talk to him!"  
  
"What? What excuse?"  
  
Misty shook her head. "Aya, if you would stop thinking about how good he looked maybe you could concentrate on getting to know him. Anyway, here's what you should do."  
  
"I'm listening," Aya chirped.  
  
"Okay. Follow him to the gym and walk up on him. Pretend like you just happen to be out and you bumped into him, though. Act casual, don't give off any hints or that might make him think you were following him. Then..." Misty stopped to think of an idea.  
  
"Then... what?"  
  
"I know! He's good with Algebra! Ask him to help you with your Algebra," suggested Misty.  
  
"But it's summer time, Misty. I don't have any Algebra to ask him to help me with."  
  
"Tell him you're attending summer school and you need the help."  
  
"But we'll just be discussing Algebra, and I wanna talk to him. I don't wanna hear 'x over this, and n plus that', I wanna get to know him."  
  
"Then just swallow your pride and fear and go talk to him," Misty popped the sucker back in her mouth.  
  
Aya sighed heavily, wandering what she would do.  
  
"He's right over there," Misty pointed towards a card shop (not the Turtle Game Shop either). Sure enough, there was a guy standing there purchasing some cards. His height was around 5'10. His golden blonde hair was brushed into lots of wild plats. He had deep, ocean blue eyes that Aya deemed 'enchanting and mesmerizing'.  
  
"Aww... he looks so cute in those red and white windsuit pants and the red shirt," Aya begn to daydream. Misty sweatdropped and thumped her arm.  
  
"Stop waiting around and go talk to him! It's the only way you'll ever get to know him."  
  
"Allright! Allright, I'm going!" Aya took a deep breath and swallowed nervously, then made her way over to the guy.  
  
The guy took the bag given to him and began to walk away but he was stopped by Aya.  
  
"Hi! Morty, how are you? Remeber me, Aya Kristina Corrington?"  
  
"Oh, what's up Aya?" Morty (Jenkins) greeted her kindly. They shook hands. "How are you?"  
  
"Oh, I'm fine," Aya replied. "What about you?"  
  
"Great," Morty answered. "So, what's been going on in your life?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, just everyday normal stuff," Aya giggled. "What's in the bag?"  
  
"Some Duel Monsters cards. They look cool, I can't wait to try them out in a duel."  
  
"Can I see them, please?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," Morty reached down into the bag and pulled out the cards. He handed them to Aya, who began studying the stack of cards. They were mostly magic and trap cards, but a few monsters were strawn about throughout the stack.  
  
"Is this your main deck of cards?" she inquired.  
  
"Oh, no. That's just a side deck. My main deck is in my pocket," Morty replied. Out of nowhere, a young woman around the age of 18 approached Morty. She was wearing a white dress and matching sandals. Her pastel pink hair was pulled back into a high ponytail (the ponytail was crinkled).  
  
"Who is this?" she wondered.  
  
"Oh, uh, this is my friend, Aya Corrington. Aya, I'd like for you to meet my lovely girlfriend Jasmine Cortez."  
  
"Hi, nice to meet you," Jasmine extended her hand out toward Aya. Aya shook hands and grinned like she was happy.  
  
"Likewise," she responded, but inside she shattered. [Oh no, Morty already had a girlfriend! And they have to be close because they're holding hands!] Aya acted calm and continued conversing with the two. As they continued talking, Misty wandered off across the street. She sat down on a bench and sucked on the sucker. The mysterious guy continued to stalk her secretly...  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Meanwhile, Misty's other two sisters, Lily and Violet, were in the den of the house watching a soap opera. Both of them were completely oblivious to what happened to Daisy. Violet snatched the remote out of Lily's hand and turned the tv, then she smiled. Lily looked at her with wide eyes and tried to take the remote back.  
  
"Hey, give me that, it was just starting to get good!"  
  
"Please, that boring piece of trash. There's much better things to watch."  
  
"But, Violet, I was watching the tv first!" Lily countered and made another attempt to snag the remote. Violet threw the remote to her other hand just as Lily reached for it.  
  
"Now, let's see what else is on," she flipped through the channels, then stopped on an action, sci-fi thriller. "Now this is entertainment, Lily."  
  
Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'll just go to my room and watch tv, then," she said and got off the recliner. She began making her way to her room when the phone suddenly rang. Wondering who it could be, Lily raced over to a nearby phone and answered the caller.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, is this the Chase sisters residence?" asked a man's voice on the other end.  
  
"Uh, yeah, why?"  
  
"Good. Hey, Lily, how are you? This is John."  
  
"What's up, John? How are you?"  
  
"I'm not good," he answered.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Your sister got stabbed by someone," John announced.  
  
Lily's face took on a shocked expression. She nearly dropped the phone.  
  
"Lily, who is that?" Violet wondered.  
  
"Lily, are you still there?" John inquired.  
  
"Uh, um... yeah, still here. What happened? How'd she get stabbed?"  
  
"How did who get stabbed?" came Violet's voice.  
  
"Um, I was trying to find a nearby charge station to give my car a jolt when someone jumped me. She tried to stop him and she got stabbed in the process."  
  
"Oh, no! This is terrible! How is she?!"  
  
"I don't know. I'm waiting on the doctors to come out of the E.R but they haven't yet. Anyway, I think you and Violet should get down here, quickly," John explained.  
  
"We're on our way. Which hospital is she in?" asked Lily.  
  
"It's Domino General," John replied.  
  
"Allright, we'll be there in about 20-25 minutes," Lily hung up the phone afterwards. "Violet, we gotta go!"  
  
"Go where?" answered Violet.  
  
"Daisy's been stabbed, c'mon," Lily grabbed her ignition card off the entertainment center in the den.  
  
"Daisy's been stabbed? Oh my goodness!" Violet exclaimed.  
  
"I know, we need to get down to the hospital..."  
  
"Wait! Shouldn't we try to find Misty?"  
  
"I don't have the slightest idea where Misty is right now, and besides I'll leave a note telling her where we are," Lily said while jotting down a small note.  
  
"Right." Both of the sisters left the house. Before they got in the car, Lily stuck the note on the door, then they got in Lily's sports car. Lily inserted the ignition card into the ignition slot, which started up the car. She then pulled off.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"Here ya' go, ma'am. Have a nice day," Joey said to a woman. He handed her a bag with Duel Monsters cards inside. He yawned and stretched his arms out, then made his way nto the back of the store where Yugi and Solomon was. They had managed to unpack and organize some of the cards before the customers arrived, and so far what they had on the shelves were holding sufficiently.  
  
"So Joey, how is the sales going?" Solomon asked him while picking up three boxes.  
  
"Everything's fine. See, I told you me and Yugi would have everything ready before the customers flocked inside."  
  
"Yes, but there's still quite a few boxes left to unpack and organize," he said while sitting those boxes down. Then he went over to the large stack and grabbed some more.  
  
"But, Mr. Moto, I'm getting quite hungry. I haven't had any breakfast."  
  
"Yeah, I'm getting hungry too," Yugi chimed in.  
  
Solomon sighed and sat down the three boxes he was carrying. "This better not be a ploy just to get out of here. I still need your help."  
  
"Don't worry, we'll help you. If you let us get somethin' on our stomachs, we could help ya even better then," Joey grinned.  
  
"Go ahead, but don't be long," Solomon said sternly.  
  
"Allright!!" Joey jumped in glee. "I'll be right back!" he raced out of the room. Yugi shook his head at his friend and sighed deeply.  
  
"So, did your friend Tea ever come to town?"  
  
"No, she said she couldn't make it, sadly," Yugi responded. There was silence in the room for a little while, as they both took a break from carting boxes full of cards. Then, Yugi popped a question in Solomon's face.  
  
"Grandpa?"  
  
"Yes, Yugi?"  
  
Yugi paused slightly before continuing. "You know, I've just thought of something that I've never asked you about before."  
  
"And what's that, Yugi?"  
  
"...Who are my parents?"  
  
This made Solomon freeze. For all of Yugi's life, he had taken care of him. Yugi never knew of his actual parents.  
  
"Where are they? What were they like?"  
  
Solomon cleared his throat before speaking. "I knew this day would come, Yugi. I always knew sooner or later you would ask me this. But, it's only natural that you'd wonder. Anyway, your parents were quite rich."  
  
"Rich?"  
  
"Yes, your father was a World Renowned Martial Arts master. He won all kinds of fighting championships and he owned a dojo. He taught many men and women the art of Jujitsu."  
  
"Jujitsu? I've always wanted to learn Jujitsu," said Yugi.  
  
"Really? I didn't think you were the fighting type," Solomon chuckled, then continued with the story. "Yes, your father was a master at the art of Jujitsu and he supported you and your mother by winning the tournaments."  
  
"What were their names?"  
  
Solomon paused for a little bit, then resumed speaking. "Your father's name was Tony Moto, and your mother was Gloria Moto. I remeber when they used to want a child. They used to wonder what it would look like and how it would act."  
  
"What happened to them? Why aren't they here today?"  
  
"Your father received a invite to a tournament for the elite only. Only the best of the best fighters would be participating in the tournament. There would be nothing there but true masters of karate. And your father saw this as an opportunity to put his Jujitsu skills to the test. Gloria did not want him to go, she wanted him to stay here with you. But he told her the winner of the tournament would get 30 million dollars as the prize! He was so excited, and immediately began packing for the trip. Your mother decided to go with him."  
  
"How do you know so much detail about what happened?"  
  
"I use to live in the mansion with them," answered Solomon. "I decided to stay behind and nurse you and watch over the mansion and make sure no thieves would try and steal our goods. Your parents left and made their way to the island in which the tournament would be held.... and they... never came back."  
  
"What?" Yugi was a little surprised.  
  
"The tournament was only suppose to last for 2 weeks, bu many weeks went by and there was no sign of them, or anyone else who participated for that matter. Weeks turned into months, months turned into years, years turned into a decade, and still.... no sign of them."  
  
"Where did the tournament take place?"  
  
"Strangely, I remeber them saying they were heading to a star-shaped island with a little community on it. It was called... the um... Crystal Kingdom."  
  
"Crystal Kingdom? But that's where the new Duel Monsters tournament is taking place!" exclaimed Yugi. "You know, Grandpa, maybe they are still there. Maybe they're stranded and living off scraps and needs someone to find them and help them. What if they are still alive?"  
  
"Nonsense, Yugi. There isn't enough food on that island to last 5 days, let alone 14 years."  
  
"But I can't just deny the fact that they could be alive..."  
  
"They are not alive, Yugi. I know you wanna believe it and I know you wish it was true, but Yugi, they are gone. No one has heard from them or seen them since the day they departed Domino City. Heck, they might not have even made it to the island."  
  
"Grandpa... I need to go lie down for a moment, will you excuse me?"  
  
"Is there anything wrong with you?"  
  
"No, I just need to lie down. I'm tired, I didn't get much sleep last night. Will you be okay running the store?"  
  
"I've been running this store for a year now, I'm pretty sure I can still handle it. Besides, Joey will be back in a minute to help unload the boxes. You go on, get some rest."  
  
"Thanks," Yugi said and ran off to go upstairs to the house. He wished he could just see them at least one time, just to know what they looked like. He wished he could travel back in time and see what they acted like, what they liked to do, etc. Yugi entered his room and closed the door. He layed out across his bed, and began to daydream about his parents. What if they were still alive and on that island? They could need some assistance and he could be the one to deliver it.  
  
[Yugi? Are you there? What's wrong?] Yami's voice pulsed through his thoughts.  
  
[Yami, I don't really feel like talking about it.]  
  
[It could help to talk about it. It's always good to tell someone about your burdens. Let me help you, Yugi. Now, what's the matter?]  
  
Yugi sighed again and decided to tell the spirit. [I'm just wondering. Who are my parents?]  
  
[Your parents?]  
  
[Yeah, just who are they? What do they look like? What's their personalities? Were they smart, outgoing, shy, active, playful, mean, get what I'm saying?]  
  
[Yes, I see.]  
  
[I just wish I could see them and talk to them. If I had one chance to wish for something, that would be it. Either that, or I'd wish they were alive again.]  
  
[Yugi, I know you wonder who they are, but you mustn't let that get you down.]  
  
[Yeah, I guess you're right, Yami. I'll try to forget about it.] Yugi stretched out and relaxed on the bed, trying to ease his mind and forget about his mysterious parents But he couldn't.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Joey walked briskly down the street. His stomach grumbled and growled faintly. As he neared the pizza joint, a smile grew on his face. He could smell the scent of delicious pizzas all the way on the street. Joey grinned from ear to ear as he walked along, getting ever closer to the entrance. Once he reached the door, he yanked it open and ran inside, but his body clashed with a woman and they both fell to the ground. She had been looking inside the pizza box to make sure it was right, so when Joey hit her, the pizza flew out of the box and splatted on the ground.  
  
"Hey, get off me!" the woman yelled and pushed Joey off of her. "Stupid jerk, what the heck is wrong with you?!"  
  
"My apologies, ma'am, I was in a.... hurry..." Joey's eyes locked on the beautiful blonde chick and stayed there. Her bleach jean shorts clung tightly on her, which really showed up her 'splendid' hips and shape. She wore a hot pink tube top and sandals to match. Her hair was crimped all the way down to her mid-back.  
  
She looked over at her box to find the pizza splatted on the floor This ticked her off. She frowned and began filling with rage. "You moron!! Not only do you knock me over but you ruined my pizza as well!! I should beat you into the floor!!" She stormed over to Joey and snatched him up by his collar.  
  
"Please, ma'am, please! I said I was sorry! I didn't try to knock over your pizza, honest."  
  
"If you really mean that, why don't you go make yourself useful and purchase me another one?" she asked him.  
  
"Well, I dunno if I have that much money..."  
  
"You better have that much money or else I'll bash your head into that wall like that nail over there!!" she shouted.  
  
"Allright, allright, allirght! I'll get you another one," said Joey. The woman released him and Joey walked up to the counter and ordered the pizzas. Afterwards, he sat down at a nearby table and began waiting. The woman was still pissed, but she was calming down.  
  
"Hey, you," Joey called,"what's your name?"  
  
"What's it to you?"  
  
"Nothing, I just thought since we had that unfortunate accident and we're sittin' here waitin' for our pizzas, we could talk and get to know each other. My name's Joey, what's yours?"  
  
"Mai, remeber the name." After the pizzas finished cooking, she took hers and left. Joey grabbed his pizzas left the building.  
  
"Hey!" he called out to her, making her turn around. "Aren't you gonna thank me for buying you the pizza?"  
  
Mai scoffed. "Please, if you hadn't never clashed into me in the first place my pizza wouldn't have never got ruined and I would've been gone away from here a long time ago, so don't come here with that. Now good riddance," she turned and strutted away from him.  
  
Joey scowled at her and walked away in the opposite direction.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Brock reached out and drew for another card, hoping it was the Ritual Card he wanted and needed. Fortunately, for him, it was the card. He finally drew the Black Luster Ritual Card, and all he needed now was two other monsters to sacrifice in order to complete the ritual. Brock knew the Black Luster Sodier wasn't initally strong enough to take down the dragons, but a little magic can go a long way. Brock drew a few more cards.  
  
"I'll place two cards face-down, and bring out a Ritual Card!" he placed down the cards and brought them forth into the duel.  
  
"A Ritual Card, hunh? I see what you're trying to do. But, I'll destroy your little sacred ordeal before you can get it started. Gamma Dragon 1, attack the Ritual Card, now!" Gamma Dragon 1 roared and prepared to launch the five beams out of it eyes.  
  
"Not so fast! I invoke the magic of the Spellbinding Circle!!" Brock flipped up a face-down card.  
  
"Oh no!" Tristan watched as his first Gamma Dragon became bound by the magic star. It roared as it tried to move, but to no avail. "You've bound my dragon!"  
  
"Yep, and not only is it paralyzed, but the attack strength of it is lowered by 700 points!"  
  
Attack Power- 3500  
  
"It's still stronger than anything you've thrown out so far. If I'm not mistaken, the ritual you're attempting is the Black Luster Ritual, and if you can pull it off, you get the Black Luster Soldier as a reward, but its not strong enough to destroy my weakened dragon. And I've still got another healthy dragon on the field to sack your soldier with."  
  
"Now I'm using Reborn the Monster to revive my Thunder Rabbit, and I play Feral Imp. both in defense mode!" Brock's previously dead monster and Feral Imp materialized into battle.  
  
Attack Power- 1800(Rabbit), 1300(Imp) Defense Power- 1600(Rabbit), 1100(Imp)  
  
"And now I shall use the magic of Brain Control, which allows me to control any one of your monsters for one turn."  
  
Tristan couldn't do anything but gasp.  
  
Brock used the Brain Control card and took control of the unbound Gamma Dragon. "Guess what happens next, Tristan? Gamma Dragon, Quintuple Gamma Ray Blast!" The brainwashed Gamma Dragon fired its beams straight into the other Gamma Dragon, utterly destroying it. Tristan shielded himself from the shockwave.  
  
Tristan's Life Points- 1400  
  
"Ha! One down, one to go!" exclaimed Brock.  
  
The magic wore off, allowing Tristan to regain control of his monster. He stared at Brock, then drew a card from the deck. It wasn't what he wanted, but it would get the job done. He placed it down.  
  
"Cyber Commander, in attack mode!" Cyber Commander loaded into battle, armed and ready to roll.  
  
Attack Power- 1800 (a guess, I'm not sure how strong it is) Defense Power- 1500 (a guess)  
  
"Cyber Commander, destroy the Feral Imp now!" The Cyber Commander raised the sub-machine gun into the air and pulled the trigger, firing several bullets into Feral Imp. The monster howled in extreme pain before shattering, but Brock's life points remained the same.  
  
"Now you have no second monster to sacrifice."  
  
"Wrong, Tristan. I still have my Dungeon Worm. Dungeon Worm, climb to the surface!" Brock commanded. His monster obeyed the order and in a matter of seconds, jumped out of the ground growling.  
  
"You tried to stop it, but you couldn't, friend. I'm offering my Thunder Rabbit and Dungeon Worm as a sacrifice, to create... a superior being(a weird white light sucks the two monsters into the black pot) The ultimate soldier of destruction, I introduce to you the legendary Black Luster Soldier!" White light emerged from the central pot in Tristan's direction, forcing him to shield his eyes. Brock smirked as the Black Luster Soldier began rising from the depths of the pot. The light stopped shining and the soldier jumped out of the pot and landed in front of it. The soldier's golden sword was raised high in the air.  
  
Attack Power- 3000 Defense Power- 3000  
  
"And now...." Brock drew a card from his hands, smirking. "I'm playing Pharoah's Dust to strengthen my soldier. This card gives it 3000 more attack points!"  
  
"What?!!! You've never had that card in your deck before! Where'd you get that?!!" Tristan was shocked out of his mind.  
  
"I did some early morning shopping. New cards hit the stores today, remeber? Along with them came this rare baby," Brock replied. The Pharoah's Dust (yellow, enchanted dust) washed over the soldier, powering it up.  
  
Attack Power- 6000  
  
"Your Gamma Dragon is toast, Tristan. Black Luster Soldier, Thunder Sword Strike!!" Brock yelled, and the monster struck the ground with the sword, releasing a high voltage lightning bolt that traveled the ground. Needless to say, it cooked the Gamma Dragon (it exploded).  
  
Tristan's Life Points- 400  
  
"I told you I could defeat you, and I have. Now you don't have a monster strong enough to beat me. Sound familiar?" teased Brock.  
  
[Brock's right. I don't have a monster that strong. If I had at least four Gamma Dragons, I could've fused them together, but Brock's obliterated two of them already. There's nothing else I can do, except either admit defeat or let Brock destroy my Cyber Commander and finish me off that way. Man, I guess I'm not good as Brock after all.]  
  
"Brock, I forfeit the match."  
  
"You're giving up? But why?"  
  
"Because your Black Luster Soldier is too strong for me to defeat. It's better for me to just admit that I can't win instead of letting you blow me out," Tristan said while picking up his deck, powering down his system. Brock does the same.  
  
"I said I could win and I did."  
  
"Guess you're still the champ around here," Tristan commented while storing his deck and Holochip. "Man, that Pharoah's Dust card of your is awesome! I hope I can find one."  
  
Brock stored all of his dueling things and approached Tristan. Tristan smiled and offered his hand.  
  
"Congratulations, Brock. You won the duel fair and square."  
  
"Hey, don't be so serious, it was just a practice game anyway. "Now, can I use your computer to register myself?"  
  
"Of course, let's go," Tristan replied and headed out to the street with Brock.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Lily's sports car pulled up at the hospital, and the two women got out of the vehicle. They closed the doors and ran into the hospital, anxious to find out about Daisy's health status. Violet approached the counter (where you ask the nurse about someone at).  
  
"Excuse me, is there a Daisy Chase checked in here?"  
  
The woman began an auto-scan search of any information regarding Daisy. She then looked back up at them and said, "Yes, she just got out of the E.R. She's been transferred to the I.C.U."  
  
"Uh, thanks," Violet and Lily ran off in search of the waiting room and John. Once they arrived there, they saw John at the vending machine getting a snack.  
  
"Hey, John," Lily greeted him.  
  
John looked up and spotted the two women. "Hey, Lily, Violet," he shook hands with both of them and went over to a chair. He seated himself and began to eat the snacks.  
  
"Hey, where's Daisy? The nurse said she was out of the Emergency Room now," Violet wondered.  
  
"Yeah, she's in Intensive Care. She's asleep though, that's why I'm not in her room right now."  
  
"Oh," Violet sighed and took a seat next to John, Lily following suit. "How's she doing?" Violet asked.  
  
"The doctors said she should make a full recovery, given time and all," John replied. Suddenly, a nurse came rushing up to the three.  
  
"Excuse me, are you John Adams?" she asked John.  
  
"Yes, ma'am, that's me."  
  
"Daisy Chase, she's awake. She asked to see you," the nurse informed them.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, and remeber, don't get her excited or too worked up."  
  
"I know," John got out of the chair and hurried over to Daisy's room. Lily and Violet followed. Once they reached the room (floor 7, room 403), they walked inside to find Daisy laying on her hospital bed. She was watching the small television in the ceiling. Once she heard the door open, she looked over to see John, Violet, and Lily entering the room. Her face brightened.  
  
"John, I'm so glad you're here. It's nice to see your face," she smiled.  
  
"Hey, there honey. How are you doing?" he walked to the bed, leaned over and gave her a kiss. Daisy returned the kiss and smiled.  
  
"I've been a lot better, for sure. And Lily, Violet, where'd you two come from?"  
  
"John called us and told us you got stabbed, so we came down here to see you," responded Violet.  
  
"Where's Misty? You mean, she didn't have time to come see me?"  
  
"We don't know where Misty is. She's been gone since this morning. We left a note on the door telling her what happened, so I'm sure she'll be by here soon."  
  
"Daisy, how did this happen?" inquired Lily.  
  
Daisy sighed, but before she could tell them what happened, a doctor entered the room.  
  
"Hello, there. I just need to check you and make sure you're still doing good."  
  
Daisy was a little confused. She had just been checked less than 3 minutes ago. "Um, excuse me, doctor, but I was just checked on less that 3 minutes ago."  
  
"Well, you can never check one too many times," the doctor said and chuckled. He whipped out a padd and began scanning Daisy with it. After he ran a scan over Daisy's body, he grinned and put it away.  
  
"Well?" said Daisy.  
  
"I am pleased to report that you are doing perfectly fine and should make a full recovery within two to three weeks."  
  
"Yeah, that's what the last doctor told me, exact same thing."  
  
The doctor chuckled and left the room.  
  
"Anyway, as I was about to say, remeber that boy Misty used to hang around in the 3rd grade? His name was... um, Seto Kaiba?" Daisy began.  
  
"Yeah, I remeber him, he was really cute to be 8 years-old," Violet giggled. Lily and Daisy and even John stared at her and shook their heads.  
  
"Well, as much as I hate to say this, he's the guy that stabbed me."  
  
"Hunh?!" both Lily and Violet were surprised.  
  
"Nah, c'mon, Seto isn't capable of anything like that. He was sweet child," Violet said, a bit in denial.  
  
"He's not a sweet child anymore, and he did this to me. I recognize that face of his anywhere."  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Hey, leave him alone!!" The guy looked up to find a blonde chick running at him. She punched him into the face and tackled him to the ground. She snatched his cloak off and Seto Kaiba was underneath it.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
"That dark brown and those narrow, ocean-blue eyes. It was him," she confirmed.  
  
"Oh my," Violet clasped her hand over her mouth.  
  
"Well, what are you going to do?" asked Lily.  
  
"There's only one thing to do, we call the cops and tell them what Seto did. Then, we'll let them take care of it, simple."  
  
Oblivious to them, the doctor was standing outside the door, listening to their conversation...  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
At the Pewter City docks, a small speedboat pulled up at a docking platform. The engine shut off and Meilin and Li stepped off the boat. They looked around at their surrounding and sighed.  
  
"Well, we're finally here. C"mon, let's go find Tristan and Brock," Li said to Meilin. Meilin nodded and they headed into the city.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Ash had got dressed and was now walking down the street. He was enraged at Pegasus. First he kills his mother, then he sets up pranks with her dead body. Ash wanted to rip Pegasus's head off and crush his guts. That silver- haired pervert was going down. Ash arrived at a gun shop on the corner. He walked inside, and approached the counter where a man stood fideling with something in his hands. His back was to Ash.  
  
"Hey, listen up!" Ash slammed his hands down on the counter. The man whirled around a bit surprised.  
  
"Oh, hello... uh, I didn't hear you there, forgive me."  
  
"That's allright, just give me the deadliest firepower you've got. And make it quick, I have something to do," Ash said.  
  
"I don't mean to be nosy here, but just what is it you're planning to do with the gun?"  
  
"Let's just say... I'm goin' on a little hunt," Ash replied.  
  
The man walked over to a glass cabinet with all sorts of guns inside. He unlocked it with a keycard and opened it. He grabbed a Plasma Blaster (a small gun that resembled a Colt Python) and put in a few Plasma Canisters.  
  
"That'll be $340 dollars, sir."  
  
Ash reached into his pocket and gave the man the money. The man took the money and gave Ash the gun in exchange, then smiled graciously at him.  
  
"Thank you for shopping here, have a good day."  
  
"Okay, thanks," Ash turned around and walked out of the store. He put the gun in his pocket and began heading back to the house. Ash had no intention of participating in Pegasus's little championship. He was coming to kill him. Ash was still infuriated at what Pegasus had did earlier. His hands quivered slightly as Ash began to get more and more enraged by the second. Without warning, the earth suddenly began to shake. Ash wondered what was going on. The earth continued to shake. It wasn't bad, but it was bad enough to knock down a few things inside buildings. Then, it stopped. Just as quickly as it came it went away. A bit confused, Ash shrugged and continued heading back to the house, with only one thing on his mind, kill Pegasus.  
  
  
  
**************************************************************************** ******************************************************************  
  
  
  
Well, that's the episode! How was it? Was it good, bad, average? Please review so I can know how I'm doing. Anyway, what do you think is going to happen now? Mysterious guy continues to watch Misty, Ash had vengeance plans for Pegasus, and just who is Yugi's parents? I'm not gonna tell you anything. Be sure to catch the Episode 05 in about two weeks, or possibly longer, I've got a busy schedule ahead for me, sadly. I'd really love to jump right back in and post the next episode, but unfortunately, my life decided against it. Until next time! 


	5. Episode 05, 'Challenges'

Guess what? It's that time again. Time for an all-new episode of Duelists of The Future! (applause) I don't have much to say this time, but I hope you enjoy this episode. I've rated this episode PG-13 for some slight sexual content and an attempted rape scene. If you're heavily offended by this, I recommend you skip that part of this episode. It's near the end, and it's not long and not really explicit either, I'm just making my warning known in case you don't like the aforementioned stuff. Oh, a little side note: I now accept anonymous reviews, so if anyone doesn't have an account but would still like to review the book, please do so. By the way, I didn't know I had the 'Don't accept anonymous reviews' function on. It was activated by default.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
  
  
Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 05, 'Challenges, Part 1' (12/6/2002)  
  
  
  
Previously...  
  
Maximillion Pegasus... There, a picture of his dead wife, Cecilia Pegasus hung on the wall. He approached the picture, rubbing his hand across it. Cecilia had blonde hair and was wearing an elegant gold dress.  
  
"Soon," he said softly. "Just soon, my beloved Cecilia, I shall have you back. Once I collect all six Talismans of Life shall I resurrect you, and you shall once again walketh the earth." (Trust me, there's more to this that it appears, can't tell you though)  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Meilin Rae/ Li Showron... Meilin and Li stepped off the boat. They looked around at their surroundings and sighed.  
  
"Well, we're finally here. C"mon, let's go find Tristan and Brock," Li said to Meilin. Meilin nodded and they headed into the city.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Daisy Chase... "Daisy, no! He has a knife!!" the man shouted.  
  
Daisy was about to punch him, but Seto stuck the knife up in Daisy's stomach, stopping her attack. Her eyes popped open as blood began trickling out the wound.  
  
"Daisy!!"  
  
"Anyway, as I was about to say, remeber that boy Misty used to hang around in the 3rd grade? His name was... um, Seto Kaiba?" Daisy began. "Well, as much as I hate to say this, he's the guy that stabbed me."  
  
"Hunh?!" both Lily and Violet were surprised.  
  
"There's only one thing to do, we call the cops and tell them what Seto did. Then, we'll let them take care of it, simple."  
  
Oblivious to them, the doctor was standing outside the door, listening to their conversation...  
  
*********************************************************************** ***********************************************************************  
  
At the hospital, the doctor stood outside the office. His facial expression was unreadible. He decided to listen in to what else they would say. Meanwhile, inside the room, John was preparing to tell the police. He got up from his chair.  
  
"Anyone here has a cell phone or something?" he asked.  
  
The three sisters shook their heads.  
  
"I have one, but I accidentally left it home in the rush," Violet said.  
  
"That's allright, I'll just go find the payphone I called on in the parking garage," John exited the room. The doctor was gone now, but no one even knew he was out there. John walked through the hospital until he reached an teleporter. A keypad was attached to the wall behind the teleporter square. John walked over to it and entered the coordinates G-1 (1st garage level), then stepped on the tile. White light surrounded him and he was teleported downstairs. 5 seconds later, John reappeared on the tile in the garage. He then ran as fast as he could to the payphone nearby. Meanwhile, the doctor had been following him. He whipped out a small communication device and typed on a keypad. Eventually someone on the other end answered.  
  
"Hello?" a deep voice sounded.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba, he's there, in the parking garage," the doctor announced.  
  
"Good, now do your part..." Seto smirked and deactived his communicator.  
  
John reached the payphone and picked up the receiver. He fished around in his pants pocket until he found some change, then as he was about to put it in the phone, a fist slammed into back of his head. John fell to the ground, and Seto hung up the phone. "Surprised to see me, Johnny?"  
  
"Seto Kaiba? What are you doing here, leave me alone!" John ordered as he picked himself up off the ground.  
  
"I don't think that's possible," Seto spoke sinisterly. "See, you're trying to get me busted for jumping you and stabbing your nosy girlfriend, and that's just not acceptible."  
  
"What did you think I was gonna do, sit around and weep? You're really mistaking me for the wrong person," After he finished speaking, John kicked Seto in the stomach.  
  
Seto bent over and groaned, then looked up to stare John in the eye. "So, you wanna play rough now? Trying to play with the big boys, hunh?" Seto stood up and threw a punch at John. John ducked and countered with a punch in the face, then uppercutted him twice in the stomach. John kicked Seto's chin, causing Seto to stumble back. John then proceeded to roundhouse kick Seto, but Seto grabbed his foot and held it.  
  
"You shouldn't have done that," he muttered and threw John on the ground. He then picked him up and tossed him into the payphone. John tumbled onto the ground and groaned in pain. Seto charged over to him and snatched him up by his hair, then landed a solid punch in his face. He tried punching him again, but John blocked the shot and kicked Seto's chest. He punched him in the mouth then punched him three more times in the face. Seto ducked John's next punch and grabbed his shoulders. He pulled him closer and kneed him in the abdomen, then mustered all his strength and uppercutted John in the chin, which knocked John into a nearby windshield of a car. Seto snatched him off and banged his head into the hood of the car, then roundhouse kicked him with all his might, which rendered John unconscious.  
  
Meanwhile, in the hospital, the doctor had knocked out all the Chase Sisters with a crowbar. He smirked and called Seto Kaiba.  
  
"Yes?" answered Seto.  
  
"I've rendered them unconscious, how did you handle John?"  
  
"He was nothing to fight, I took care of him, easily. Now, shut up those Chase Sisters and I'll pay you your money."  
  
"As you wish, sir," the doctor said and deactivated his communicator. He strolled over to Violet's unconscious body and squatted down next to it. "Hmm... I guess you'll be first," he said and took a needle out of his coat pocket which had some strange blue/green solution inside. He grinned evily and injected all of it into Violet's arm, then moved over to Lily. He pulled out another one from his coat pocket and pressed the needle down into Lily's arm, administering the strange solution into her bloodstream. Afterwards, he got up and strolled over to the bed in which Daisy lay. He pulled out one last needle and injected the solution in Daisy via her arm, then round up all the needles and snuggled them into his pocket. He picked up Lily and Violet and placed them inside chairs to make everything look nice and neat. He fixed the room back up quickly and then left.  
  
In the parking garage, Seto had administered the solution into John's system. He dropped John's body down on the ground and walked away with a smirk on his face. "That oughta teach them not to mess with Seto Kaiba," he chuckled and continued walking out of the garage.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
It was now 3:30 in the evening. At the Turtle Game Shop, Solomon was still selling cards to young duelists. Joey had come back and helped Solomon unpack the rest of the boxes, and was now heading home. He left the rest of the pizza upstairs in Yugi's room for him to eat. But Yugi wasn't hungry. Although he tried, he just couldn't get his mind off of his parents. What if they were alive? What if they were really sponsering the tournament instead of Pegasus, to try and find their son? The probability of that was slim to none, but after unlocking the secret of the Millenium Puzzle and getting infused with a mystical being, Yugi believed anything was possible. He layed across the bed daydreaming about what they were possibly like? What hair color did they have? Was his mother's hair long? What were their eye color?  
  
[Yugi, I see you're still thinking about your mysterious parents,] said the aforemention being, Yami.  
  
Yugi sighed heavily. [You're interrupting my thoughts, Yami.]  
  
[Yugi, your parents couldn't be alive. Not after 14 (?) years.]  
  
[Anything's possible, Yami. I gotta search for them, at least.]  
  
[And, just where are you starting this frivolous search?]  
  
[It's not frivilous! I know they're alive! They have to be!]  
  
[But, Yugi, they've been missing for 14 years. If they were really alive, you'd think someone would've actually seen them.]  
  
[I know the odds, but I've gotta try,] Yugi got off the bed and walked over to his window. He unlocked it and opened it up, then stuck his head outside to let the calm winds blow against him.  
  
[So, Yugi, where are you gonna start looking for them?]  
  
[Well, Grandpa said the last place they went was the Crystal Kingdom, so I need to go there.]  
  
[And how are you going to get there? You don't know where the island is,] Yami pointed out.  
  
[Which is exactly why I need to enter the tournament. Once I get to Crystal Kingdom, I can start searching for them.]  
  
[Yugi, I don't think this is the best thing to do. You're going to pay a $15.00 dollar fee and waste a lot of time and energy over a possibility?]  
  
[Yep, and no one can change my mind.]  
  
[Yugi, I'm gonna let you know, although I don't think this is the smartest thing to do, I'm still giving you all my support, and I wish you the best of luck,] Yami told him.  
  
[Thank you, Yami,] Yugi responded and smiled. The wind blew his hair and he watched the cars run down the street. The door to his room opened and Solomon walked inside. He saw Yugi standing over at the window and approached him.  
  
"Hey, Yugi."  
  
Yugi spun around, then sighed when he realized who is was. "Grandpa, hey."  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing, I'm just looking out of the window and thinking about stuff."  
  
"Let me guess, your parents?"  
  
"No, I'm thinking about entering the tournament. They say duelists have a chance at winning 50 to 100 million dollars, and I think I have a chance to win. I'm good at this game, so can I go?" he asked.  
  
Solomon smiled and responded, "Of course, Yugi. Why not?"  
  
"Thanks, Grandpa," Yugi gave Solomon a quick hug then walked over to his computer to register. Solomon smiled and left the room to tend to the store downstairs.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
At the Pegasus Estate, Maximillion Pegasus sat in the bedroom of his home drinking a glass of wine while reading a comic book. After taking a sip he sat it down next to him. Everything was going according to plan. The tournament islands preparation was nearly completed, and the archaeologists was digging for the Talismans. Everything was simply perfect. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Pegasus decided to see how the dig was going. He pressed down a red button, better known as the intercom. He called for his trusty guard, Croquet. It didn't take long for Croquet to enter the room. The guard approached Pegasus and bowed his head down.  
  
"Master Pegasus, what may your request be?" he greeted in a solemn voice.  
  
"Croquet, no need to be serious. I just want to know about the dig. Have they found the Talismans yet?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"No, sir, the Talismans hasn't been found."  
  
"What?" Pegasus was a little shocked. "What do you mean?"  
  
"The Talismans were nothing but a myth, sir, they do not exist. We've dug in all the marked spots where they was supposed to be, but nothing was there. The search was a bust," announced Croquet.  
  
Maximillion shook his head and sighed in disgust. "Oh, no, this just totally throws things off plan! What am I going to do now? I can't bring her back now because the dig was a bust!"  
  
"Master, I do have an alternate plan."  
  
Pegasus looked up into Croquet's eyes. "What is it?"  
  
"We ran across an ancient inscription about the Millenium Items. It said: 'Whosoever wields all 7 Millenium Items shall possess powers unimaginable to all mankind'. You already have one of these items, which means you just have to find the other 6."  
  
"Hmm... are you sure this will work?"  
  
"Quite positive, Mr. Pegasus. The only problem is there are no records that might indicate us to the whereabouts of the 6 items."  
  
Pegasus took another sip of wine and sat the glass back down. "There must be some records or some way to find them. Get working on this, immediately," he ordered.  
  
"Yes, master," Croquet bowed his head once more, then turned and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him and Pegasus continued reading the comic book.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Cinnabar Island was a beautiful place, especally in the spring-summer season. The sun shone down on the city, warming the place up to a comfortable 77 degrees. The beaches were filled with people swimming, relaxing, scuba diving, playing games such as volleyball and water polo, surfing, jetskiing, and other things. Tourists from out-of-town were everywhere. There was a lone island off the coast of Cinnabar Island, and a mansion resided on it. Inside the master bedroom of the mansion, sat a 16- year old girl. She was registering herself into the Crystal Kingdom tournament. After she submitted her form, a devious smirk spread across her face.  
  
"I'm coming for you, Pegasus..."  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Misty walked up the stairs to her house and approached the door. She reached into her shorts pocket to grab her key, when something caught her eye. She noticed the note that Violet had left, and she picked it up to read it. It said: 'Daisy was stabbed, me and Lily are going to the Domino General Hospital to see her, Violet'. This caught Misty by surprise, and she dropped the note. Who stabbed Daisy? How was she doing? Misty quickly ran back down the stairs and dashed down the sidewalk. She had to find out how Daisy was doing.  
  
Later, she arrived at the hospital (via public transportation). She briskly walked along until she reached the entrance. The doors slid open automatically and she walked through. She approached a random nurse.  
  
"Excuse me, Miss, but is there a Daisy Chase here?" she asked her.  
  
"Oh yes, she's on floor 7 room 403," the nurse answered and Misty walked away. She stepped onto a teleporter pad and entered in the coordinates, then teleported to that floor. When the process was complete, Misty walked down the hallway until she reached room 403. She opened the door and walked inside to find Lily and Violet slouched over and Daisy laying on the bed asleep.  
  
"Lily, Violet? Daisy?!" she ran inside and approached Lily and Violet. She checked for their pulses. They had one, but it was very weak. She approached Daisy to check her pulse and got the same results. Her eyes bucked open and she ran outside to find a doctor. She spotted a few walking down the hall.  
  
"Doctors, doctors!! You have to help me! My sisters, something's wrong with them!!" she grabbed one of the doctors.  
  
"Allright, miss, calm down. What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
"My sisters, they're all... listen, something's wrong with them! They... th... they're pulses, they're.. they're weak, a-a-and.. and... you just have to see!!"  
  
"Where are they?" another one spoke up.  
  
"In room 403," Misty replied. the doctors headed down there to see what was wrong and Misty followed them. When they arrived, the doctors immediately rushed over to examine the sisters. Misty stood in the doorway waiting and watching as the doctors scanned their bodies with a device. Their facial expression was confused as they scanned over all of them.  
  
"What's wrong with them?" Misty inquired.  
  
The 1st doctor looked at her and answered, "We honestly don't know."  
  
"What do you mean, you don't know?! You're doctors, you're supposed to know!"  
  
"And we don't," spoke another. "The only thing we know right now is that your sisters have some type of lethal toxin, or toxins, inside their system."  
  
"Lethal toxins? What do you mean?"  
  
"I'm still receiving info from the scanner. And it says, the toxins have rendered your sisters into a deep sleep, or a coma. It has shut down their brain. The toxins are slowly eating away all of their important organs, such as the liver, kidneys, their heart. The toxins are reprogamming their cells to emit this substance into their bloodstream, making the intoxication process go faster. The body is trying to fight the toxins, but to no avail."  
  
"We should get them to the E.R, right away," spoke a woman.  
  
"Right. Um, ma'am, we're going to have to ask you to leave, this is a medical emergency," the 1st doctor told her.  
  
She nodded in response. "Allright. When you get some news, just call this number," she handed them her phone number and left the room. She saw some other doctors running down the hall with John on a stretcher.  
  
"Do you know what kind of toxin is in his bloodstream..." a woman was yelling as they rushed down the hall. Misty knew then the same thing that happened to her sisters happened to him. How did this happen to them? And what was she going to do without her sisters? Some tears manage to escape her eyes and flow down her face. She sniffled quietly as she sat in the waiting room. What was going to happen? Would they live? And if they didn't, where was she going to go? She couldn't support herself, she was far too young to get a job. She always depended on them to support her ever since their parents abandoned them, and now that they were sick, who was she going to go to now?  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Meanwhile, in the Pewter City Police Station, Surge, Vicki, and Jason were resting within their cell. And neither of them were happy. They hadn't been there long, and they were already growing tired of it. There was nothing to do, but sit around resting your head on your hands, or take frequent naps. They did this often, to get some kind of 'entertainment' (via their dreams). Surge also practiced his karate skills to pass time. When he got out, he was going to use them on Tristan and beat him into a very bloody pulp for spilling the beans to the cops. Jason decided to strike up a conversation.  
  
"Hey, Surge, what are you goin' to do about Tristan and those dragons?"  
  
Surge was currently resting on his back on the floor. He sat up and turned to face Jason. "I don't know," he said. "I know when I got outta here, I'm gonna go pound me some Tristan and take back my cards."  
  
"Have you cooked up a plan to get us outta here yet? I'm getting claustrophobic."  
  
Vicki erupted into laughter and Jason scowled at her. "Hey, what's so funny?!" he asked. "This tight, uncomfortable jail cell is making me go crazy!"  
  
Vicki continued to laugh. Jason rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Surge. "So, what'cha gonna do?"  
  
"I don't know, Jason. What can I do?"  
  
"We have to do something! I'm ready to get outta here!"  
  
"So am I! But, it's not like we can just waltz our way outta here, we gotta wait," Surge said and layed back across the floor.  
  
Jason sighed heavily. "You know, we don't even have to be in here. If you had just lied and said we didn't touch Tristan, they couldn't have locked us up because of lack of grounds. But, no, you just had to try and be 'big bad Surge who can do anything'."  
  
Surge sat back up and stared Jason in the eyes. "Enough, Jason."  
  
"You know I'm right. If you just stood your ground, we would not be in this awful place," Jason stared Surge back down defiantly.  
  
"Yeah, boss," chimed Vicki. "Jason's right. You shouldn't told the cops. It's your fault that we're down here."  
  
"No, it's not! It's Tristan's fault," Surge tried to deny it, but he knew Jason and Vicki was right. He did screw up and put them in jail. First off, he was supposed to threaten Tristan before he left him sitting behind the shack. Then, he could've told the cops he had nothing to do with Tristan's misfortunate incident. He could've explained the fingerprints by saying that him and Tristan used to be friends and Tristan let him play with the card before they fell out. Then the accident happened right after and now Tristan's trying to blame him. The bars to the cell rattled, alerting their attention. They looked to see Surge's father standing there.  
  
"Dad? What do you want?" Surge asked him, and Robert didn't answer. He inserted a keycard which opened the door to the cell.  
  
"Son... come with me. I want to talk to you," he stated, which shocked Surge a little. He wasn't expecting Robert to come down to the holding cells and ask him to come talk to him. But, he might be able to convince Robert to let him go. Surge got up from the floor and walked out of the cell. Robert closed it back up and led Surge through the precinct until they reached his office. There, he let himself and Surge inside. Robert shut the door tightly behind him, then took a seat in his chair.  
  
"Now, Surge, I wanna ask you one thing. And I want you to promise that you'll answer it truthfully, allright?" Robert spoke in a stern, fatherly voice. Surge nodded his head and Robert continued. "Are you sorry for your actions, Surge? Are you ashamed for threatening Tristan for that one card, are you ashamed of all your actions in general?"  
  
Surge didn't answer right away. Was he ashamed? No. Was he sorry for his actions? Definitely not. Was he ashamed of threatening Tristan's life for a card? No. He wasn't ashamed of anything. But, he could use this opportunity as a chance to get outta jail. He looked Robert straight in the eye and gave his answer.  
  
"No." Robert was taken aback. "No, I am not ashamed of my actions," Surge said and suddenly lunged out and gripped Robert's throat, choking off his air supply. Robert gagged and tried to pry away Surge's grip, but Surge put his other hand around his neck, further tightening the grip.  
  
"Now, listen up," Surge spoke in a sinister tone of voice, "I am the leader of a gang. You know that, right? Let me, Jason, and Vicki outta jail right now, or else... Mommy Dearest is wasted, got it?" Surge released his grip, but just enough to let Robert get a little breath.  
  
"You wouldn't dare..." Robert spoke in complete shock at his son. Surge has threatened people, but he never threatened to kill family and relatives! Just how evil was his son?  
  
"Well, what's your answer, Dad?! Mother's life is in your hands! You have a choice: let me, Vicki, and Jason go on a technicality, or I'll sick my goons on Mother and kill her, what's your choice?" Surge demanded to know.  
  
Robert was in complete shock. Surge has went so far to threaten to take his own mother's life! How could he even say it? Without his mother, Surge wouldn't even be here! How could he claim to kill her? Robert knew he couldn't let Surge go through with it, so he had to turn them loose... sadly, but if he didn't, he would 'sick his goons' on Debbie, his mother!  
  
"What's your answer, Father?!"  
  
"I'll release you..." Robert's voice trailed off.  
  
Surge smirked and released his grip completely. "Now, don't try any tricks, or else..."  
  
"Surge, I can't believe you. You're threatening to kill your own mother! How could you? After everything she's done for you?!"  
  
"I won't kill her, if you let me go. Decide to hold me and my friends, and she's gone..." Surge grinned evily as his father stared at him in complete and utter disbelief. Robert knew by the look on Surge's face he would do the deed if he didn't release him and his friends.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Ash was inside his home counting all his money. He layed across the couch with his feet plopped up on the couch's arm. Buying that Plasma Blaster really took a chunk out of his funds, but it was a small sacrifice to pay to get his revenge on Mr. Pegasus. Ever since Pegasus murdered his mother, Ash had never been the same. He once used to be a cheery, happy young man who went to school like any other teenage boy. He had friends, an actual social life, and he had a mother... a mother whom he loved with his whole heart. But, since that fateful day of May 15th, 2032, Ash had never been the same. Ever since he escaped from Pegasus's labs and made it back to Pallet Town, he had been changed. He turned from a happy young man into a loner. He was a dark, broody type of guy. He never got to graduate from 12th grade and make his mother proud. He would never get a chance to go to college and graduate and start making lots of money for him and his mother. Ash counted up an amount of only $100. He stashed it in his pocket and got off the couch. He knew where to go when he need some quick cash.  
  
The Town Centre of Pallet Town was just that, The Town Centre. That's where all the grocerie stores, farmer's markets, fish markets, and anything else was located. The Town Centre was full of local Pallet Town residents doing their daily business. The one thing that stood out in this place was a small casino, or 'Gambling Block', as it was called. It wasn't big at all; it was just big enough for all Pallet Town residents. Ash gave the bouncer outside his fake I.D and walked inside the Gambling Block. He walked through the place attempting to find someone willing to play Poker with him. Ash considered himself a master at Poker, since it was rare when someone defeated him at it. After searching around, he eventually found three other players to play Poker with. Ash gambled all the money he had on the match, and he won the game, too (I would go off into more detail, but I don't know a thing about Poker). He received $300 bucks from the other players, and they decided to play again, betting everything. And Ash won again. He received $1200 bucks this time, and got some angry scowls from the few individuals. Afterwards, Ash decided he had enough money and walked out of the Gambling Block. He started walking down the street, when suddenly someone grabbed him and spun him around. It was one of the other players.  
  
"Hey, listen up kid, I'm not happy that you took all my money..."  
  
"And, what, I'm supposed to care?" Ash retorted, and the man pulled him closer, until their faces were inches apart.  
  
"You're going to give me a rematch and a chance to win back my money!"  
  
Ash pondered this and agreed to it. "Okay, but on one condition."  
  
"What?" the man asked in a flat voice.  
  
"If I win, you give me $400 extra dollars. And... we have to play Duel Monsters, I'm sick of Poker right now."  
  
The man stared Ash in the eyes then agreed to the terms. "Allright, I agree to your little condition. Where will we have the match?" he asked.  
  
"At the park, over there," Ash answered and headed across the street, where the park was located. The man followed him and they walked into the park. Lots of children were running and playing and laughing. This brought back some memories Ash did not want to forget. He remebered Delia taking him to the park all the time when he was a little boy. She used to watch him play with the other kids. He remebered he would feed the fish and ducks in ponds. Delia used to push him on swings and he loved it. The park held so many treasured memories... Ash and the man decided to duel near one of the ponds he and his mother used to play near all the time. They whipped out their Holochips and placed them on the ground, which materialized them into Red (Ash) and Black (man) dueling consoles. Carefully shuffling their decks, they sat them in the deck-keeper and powered up the systems.  
  
"Hey," the man yelled to Ash, "What do I get if I win?!"  
  
"What do you think, doofus? You get your money back!" Ash responded, then his face took on a serious expression.  
  
"Time to duel!" they shouted simutaneously.  
  
Ash's/Man's Life Points- 2000  
  
The man won a game of Heads or Tails, meaning he got to make the first move. He grinned and drew five cards from his deck, looking them over. He pulled one up and placed it down on his console. "I play one card in Defense Mode and end my turn."  
  
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Is that all you can do?" Ash drew his first five cards and looked them over, quite pleased with what he had. The cards were: Harpie's Brother, Pot of Greed, Dragon Zombie, a trap card, and Witch's Apprentice. He drew the Dragon Zombie and placed it on his console face-up. "I call out Dragon Zombie, in attack mode!" The monster loaded onto the field.  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 0  
  
"Dragon Zombie, attack the defense card now! Deadly Zombie Breath!" Ash commanded. His monster obeyed its order and spewed a large beam of deadly breath at the defense card. The defense card loaded in and revealed itself to be a Baby Dragon. The dragon tried to withstand the breath, but it couldn't and it shattered. The man's life points remained intact.  
  
"Hmm..." the man drew another card from his hand. "I'm playing this in defense mode, as well!" he slapped down the card, and a white light flashed repeatedly on the grid. Ash couldn't help but wonder what the man was up to and why did he keep playing cards in defense mode. He drew a card from his deck.  
  
"I'll lay this out face-down. Dragon Zombie, destroy the defense card with Deadly Zombie Breath!" Dragon Zombie spit out its terrible breath once again, destroying the defense card, which happened to be a Kuribo.  
  
"Figures, you attacked again," the man said quietly and reached down to draw a card from his deck. He looked at it and grinned. "I'm gonna dish this out face-down for later, and play the Flame Swordsman and Rude Kaiser, both in attack mode!" he placed his cards and loaded them into the duel. The Flame Swordsman growled deeply upon loading as did the Rude Kaiser.  
  
(Flame Swordsman) ATK: 1800 DEF: 1600 (Rude Kaiser) ATK: 1700 DEF: 1500  
  
"Go, Flame Swordsman, attack the Dragon Zombie with Flaming Sword of Battle!" the man shouted and his Flame Swordsman charged straight for the Dragon Zombie, sword raised high into the air. Right before it reached the monster, Ash flipped up a surprise trap card.  
  
"Not so fast! I'm activating the magic of Trap Hole!"  
  
"Oh no!" the man gasped. The Trap Hole destroyed the Flame Swordsman before it could reach Dragon Zombie, but he didn't lose any life points. "I wasn't expecting that!" he mused, and Ash drew for a card, hoping for a stronger one. And he got what he wanted. He put the card onto the console.  
  
"Now I play Summoned Skull, in attack mode!" The Summoned Skull materialized onto the battlefield.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200  
  
"Go, Summoned Skull, attack the Rude Kaiser now! Lightning Strike!!" The Summoned Skull powered up a large electrical charge and shot it out and the Rude Kaiser. As the attack neared ever closer, the man whipped out a surprise trap card of his own.  
  
"I'm invoking the magic of Mirror Force!!"  
  
Ash's eyes bucked open as the trap formed a shield which reversed the attack back to the source, a.k.a the Summoned Skull... there was nothing Ash could do except watch his monster shatter to its own attack.  
  
"Darn!" he muttered as his life points drained.  
  
Ash then watched the man draw a card from the deck. He smirked and placed it face-down. "And since your Dragon Zombie has less attack power than Rude Kaiser, I deem it destroyed. Rude Kaiser, attack the zombie now! Forearm Slash!" Rude Kaiser charged over to the Dragon Zombie and delivered a powerful slash into the zombie's midsection, cutting it in half and destroying it.  
  
Ash's Life Points- 1900  
  
"Well, well, I'm winning," the man commented and smiled.  
  
"Yeah, only by 100 points," Ash retorted, then rolled his eyes and drew for a card. Fortunately for him, it was the Dark Magician. He smirked and placed it down. "I'm playing the Dark Magician in attack mode (draws two cards from hand and play them), along with the Witch's Apprentice, in defense mode! And I'm playing a card face-down!" Ash's two monster brought themselved into the field.  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100 (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 550 DEF: 500  
  
The man burst into laughter. "What's the use of playing that 'Witch's Apprentice' card, it hardly has any attack strength! Just another target for my Rude Kaiser."  
  
"You don't know much about Duel Monsters, do you? Or else you'd know that the Witch's Apprentice card raises all Dark type monsters attack and defense strength by 500 points, including herself!"  
  
"WHAT?!!" he grabbed his forehead in amazement.  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 3000 DEF: 2600 (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 1050 DEF: 1000  
  
"Rude Kaiser's time has come! Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!!" Ash shouted. Dark Magician thrusted its staff at the Rude Kaiser and fired a green energy beam into it, shattering it.  
  
Man's Life Points- 700  
  
"Now I'm in the lead, and by a lot too," Ash grinned at the man, who scowled in disgust and drew a card from his deck. [Hmm... what can I do? That Dark Magician's attack strength is already 3000, and it's gonna get stronger every turn, unless I destroy that Witch's Apprentice here and now.] "I'm invoking the powers of Dark Magician Girl, attack mode!" The Dark Magician's female counterpart materialized into battle.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1800  
  
"Dark Magician Girl, attack Witch's Apprentice now! Dark Magic Attack!" The magician raised her staff into the air and fired a pastel pink energy beam at the Witch's Apprentice. Ash flipped his trap card face-up.  
  
"Mirror Wall, activate now!"  
  
"Hunh?!! What the..." the man's voice trailed off as a crystalized wall appeared in front of Ash's two monsters. The attack fired back into the Dark Magician Girl and mesmerized her. "This is very bad!"  
  
"Sure is. You must know that when Mirror Wall is attacked, the attacking monster's attack and defense power is subtracted in half."  
  
ATK: 1000 DEF: 900  
  
"Which leaves your Dark Magician Girl easy prey for my Dark Magician, who also gets another 500 point raise in attack and defense strength!"  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 3500 DEF: 3100 (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 1500 DEF: 1500  
  
"Go, Dark Magician, destroy the Dark Magician Girl now!!" Ash commanded. The Dark Magician obeyed and launched its destructive attack at the Dark Magician Girl, shattering her violently.  
  
Man's Life Points- 0  
  
"Well, well, I won! I blew you out! (laughs) I almost scored a perfect on you! I had 1900 life points," Ash jeered. "You know what, you're a sorry duelist. You couldn't even manage to get my life points down to at least 1500! Cough up the dough and go home."  
  
"Whatever," he said and collected his deck. He transformed the dueling console back into a Holochip and stored it along with the deck into his device. He whipped out $400 extra dollars and handed them to Ash. "Here's the money, punk. Now, just because I lost this time doesn't mean a thing! I'll be back to win back all my money!!" he yelled and ran off angrily. Ash stored all of his things and walked away from the dueling site. He made his way home and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He headed into the kitchen and when he arrived there, Delia was standing in the kitchen.  
  
"Hello, son..." she spoke.  
  
Ash's eyes popped open in amasement and shock. He stared unbelievingly at who stood in front of him, his mother... "Mother?"  
  
"Yes, honey, it's me. I'm back."  
  
"...But, but how?"  
  
"That does not matter. I have some news, and... I'm afraid you won't like it," she said to him.  
  
"Wait a minute. This... this is a trick. I-I.. I just saw your body at the bottom of the lake a few hours ago! There's no way you can be standing here alive, this has to be a trick!"  
  
"No, son! It is not! This is me, Delia Ketchum, your mother..." she approached him, but Ash stepped back.  
  
"No, I can't believe this. It's a trick from Pegasus. Stay away from me!"  
  
"Ash, please, son... I am not a trick by Pegasus. I am real, I am your mother!"  
  
"Then... then..... how'd you come back?" he asked, and Delia shook her head.  
  
"Ash, that's not the issue. I have something to tell you."  
  
"...What?"  
  
There was a long silence before Delia continued. "Maximillion Pegasus is...."  
  
"Is...?"  
  
"He is...." she trailed off again.  
  
"He's what? What is he and why should I know?!" Ash snapped. He was still uneasy about the fact that his 'mother' could be a deception from Pegasus.  
  
"Maximillion Pegasus is (her voice began to morph into his) your killer!!" she laughed wickedly and lashed her hand around Ash's neck, choking him. Ash reacted quickly and kicked her in the stomach, then pushed her away. He pulled out the Plasma Blaster and fired a shot at her, but she swiftly ducked, making him hit the wall behind her. She suddenly dissappeared, and the last thing Ash heard was Pegasus's malicious laughter filling the air. He frowned and darted upstairs to the bedroom. Running inside, he noticed a small box sitting on the bed with a crank on the side of it. Ash cautiously approached the box, weary of any traps. He slowly reached out and grabbed the box, then pulled it back toward him. A note on the handle told him to pull it... Ash didn't want to do this. What if something horrid was inside? He swallowed nervously and pulled the handle... some soft music began to play and suddenly the box opened. The (miniature) shocked and fried version of Delia popped out of the box, and it began to laugh (sounding just like Delia).  
  
"GAAH!" Ash dropped the box on the floor, and it began to speak to him.  
  
"Ash... I love you..." she spoke and gave him an air kiss. The soft melody playing began to run down, like a battery using up the last of its juice. She kept repeating the same thing, except it sound like a dying battery.  
  
" (winding down) Ash... I love you... Ash... I love you... Ash... I love you... Ash I love you....." Ash was enraged as he picked up the box and threw it out of the window. He dropped to his knees and began to flashback to his mother's death scene.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Sayanora, Delia," he said and pushed a button on a remote control and a force field formed around her. Then, 10,000 volts of electricity erupted on the chains, and shocked Delia severely. She screamed in pain.  
  
"MOTHER!!!!" Ash yelled, but he could do nothing to help her. He stared with his eyes bucked opened and watched as his mother slipped away. Before she passed on she gave him one last, heartwarming smile, then her eyes closed and she passed away.  
  
"Mother..." Ash's eyes began filling with tears as her lifeless body was only held up by the chains. "NO!!!!!" Ash screamed in pain.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
Some tears began to flow down his face as he sat there, drifting into space. The only thoughts playing over and over again in his head was, [kill Pegasus... kill Pegasus... kill Pegasus... kill Pegasus... kill Pegasus... death be to Pegasus... death be to Pegasus... Pegasus must die...]  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
It was late evening now, around 7:58 pm. Misty had left the hospital hours ago since there was nothing she could do. She had stopped crying now, but she was still depressed. She walked along the street slowly, occasionally brushing stray tears off her face. She walked up the steps to her house and unlocked the door. Walking inside, she shut the door behind her and was about to sit down on the couch when the phone interrupted her. She sighed and walked over to the nearest phone to answered it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Yes, is this Misty Chase?" asked a man's voice.  
  
"Um, yeah, this is her, who is this?"  
  
"I am Dr. Willis. I've called to tell the news regarding your sisters," he said.  
  
"Really? H.. how are they?"  
  
The doctor paused slightly before continuing. "Misty I'm afraid that I've got some bad news," he told her. "We took your sisters into E.R and we administered all the strongest antibiotics we had to give. And... none of them worked."  
  
"Hunh? What do you mean? Why didn't it work?"  
  
"Apparently, it's not strong enough," Dr. Willis replied. "This.. virus is continuing to spread through their bodies at an incredible rate! It's taking over their cells. And when their bodies try to fight it, the virus reprograms the white blood cells, turning their bodies' own immune system against them. I'm afraid there is nothing more we can do."  
  
"But you have to do something! You can't just let them sit up and die, you have to help them!!" Misty yelled in frustation and anger.  
  
"Believe me, miss, we've tried all we can but, we simply cannot help them. The virus is too strong," Dr. Willis stated.  
  
Misty was a bit shocked at the sudden news. What was she going to do without them? How could she survive? "Isn't there anything.. you can do? Can't you get some medical labs to help research this virus?"  
  
Dr. Willis cleared his throat and continued on. "Excuse me. We've already done that and they haven't turned up anything. But there may be one person you could turn to..."  
  
"Who?! Who is this person? Where are they?!" Misty demanded to know.  
  
"I personally don't recommend this, this person's..."  
  
"Just.. tell me!" she shouted.  
  
"Okay, miss. She lives out in the woods. Her name is Yelola Winans, and she specializes in this type of stuff. She's a mean, woman, though and she will most likely 'test' you before you can even talk to her."  
  
"Where exactly does she lives?"  
  
"Go all the way out to Wilderness Road and walk until you reach a dirt path. Veer right on this dirt path and keep walking until you reach a small, wooden cottage. That's her house, but I should forewarn you, though, you shouldn't go while it's this late. It will be almost nighttime by the time you get to Wilderness Road, and it's easy to get lost," the man pointed out, and Misty acknowledged this. She hung up the phone and began stored things in her device, like flashlights, batteries, snacks and water, and a tint in case she got lost. After prepping herself, she headed out of the house. Her destination: Small wooden cottage in the woods.  
  
It was around 9:10 when Misty finally reached Wilderness Road. She had rented a motor scooter to make traveling more efficient. The sun had completely went down by now, and the moon was high above the horizon shining its silver glow down on Earth below. She began driving down the dark road carefully, being weary of loose gravel and wild animals. As she continued down the path, she was oblivious to her stalker following her. He eyed her carefully and a malicious grin formed across his face. Now that she was in the dark and all alone, it was the perfect time to make his move... Misty reached the dirt road and took a right turn just as Dr. Willis had instructed her. She continued strolling carefully down the road. Her headlight shined brightly which illuminaed the road and some of the surrounding grass and shrubs. Suddenly, a rope lashed out around her waist and yanked her off the bike. She screamed as she landed on the ground quite harshly. Then, her stalker walked out into the opening.  
  
"Hello, Misty, long time no see..." he stated. Misty instantly recognized his voice. The guy who stood over her looked to be around the age of 16. He was wearing black leather pants and a matching vest, and no shirt was underneath it. He was a big guy, his height was 6'5 and he weighed in at about 239 lbs. He was very muscular too. Washboard abs plated his abdomen, and biceps and triceps buffed his arms. A navel ring was implanted into his navel, along with about 3 ear piercings on each ear (which were filled with earrings). His hair was spiked at the end, and it was dyed blue, leaving the rest of his hair, which was quite messy, a deep black (he liked the wild, bad boy look). His black eyes stared down into her face.  
  
"Ronnie..." her voice trailed off.  
  
"Yes, my dear, it's me, Ronnie Chang. How do you do?" he bowed.  
  
Misty got off the ground with a disgusted look on her face. "Ronnie, what the heck are you doing here?!"  
  
"Misty, chill out... I just happened to be nearby."  
  
"Listen, Ronnie, I don't have time for you. Leave me alone," Misty said and started walking away. Ronnie quickly grabbed her and pushed her back against a tree.  
  
"Wait a minute, Misty... I just wanna talk. Listen, I know I wasn't exactly the best boyfriend, but I've changed. I realize what a mistake it was to go off with that other girl and cheat on you. I was a fool, Misty, and I apologize for any pain I might've caused you. Accept me back into your life," Ronnie pleaded, but the response was a harsh slap from Misty.  
  
"You bastard! How dare you yank me off my bike then ram me up against a tree and beg for me to date you again! I told you, Ronnie, I want nothing to do with you anymore!!" she yelled and pushed him off of her. Before she could get away, he jammed her back onto the tree.  
  
"Listen to me, Misty, please. I've changed, really, I have. I don't run around flirting with other girls, I don't do drugs anymore. I am a different person, now. I'm not just concerned about having sex. What I want is for you to give me one last chance to prove myself. Let me show you that I have all the qualities you've ever wanted from me. Let me show you what a gentlemen is like..."  
  
Another slap, this time harder than last time, met his face. "Ronnie, get your hands off me, and stay away from me! I don't want you anymore!!" Misty pushed him back again and started running away, but Ronnie caught her and grabbed her. He shoved her back onto the tree.  
  
"Shut up, wench!! You're going to be with me, one way or another!!" he shouted, and Misty punched him in the stomach, then kicked him in the chest, making him stumble back. She quickly took off in the direction of the motorbike. Ronnie whipped out a gun and shot out the tires before Misty could speed away. She abandoned the bike and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Ronnie sprinted after her, and gained on her rapidly (he sprint very often). He quickly caught Misty and tackled her to the ground.  
  
"Now, kiss me, Misty! Kiss me and kiss me good!!" he screamed and tried to french kiss her. Misty clawed his face with her fingernails. "AHH!!" he yelled, which gave Misty the opening she needed. She punched his face twice and kicked him off of her, then got up and took off running again. This time, Ronnie didn't follow her. Misty kept running as fast as she could, anxious to reach the house. She noticed Ronnie wasn't following her, but she kept running anyway. Time passed and her legs began to tire out. She eventually stopped running and took in large amounts of air to try and regain her stamina. Ronnie and Misty used to go out together not too long ago, but numerous events led to their breakup. First off, he seldomly tried to force her into having sex, which was a no-no (she was 14 at the time). Then he began to do drugs, and tried to make her smoke marijuana with him, but she didn't want to. And last but not least, he cheated on her with another girl. He claimed to be 'brushing up' on his sex skills, so when she finally decided to 'do it', he could give her the utmost perfect sex. He also tried to fool her by saying it was a doll he was practicing on, which would've been even nastier had it been the truth. At this time, Misty broke it off with him and he continued to stalk her and try to make her be with him for a few weeks. She then got a restraining order filed against him, and that made him finally leave her alone. She never heard from him again until this day. Once Misty regained her stamina, she started walking down the eerie road. Without warning, Ronnie jumped from a motor scooter onto her and tackled her to the ground. He quickly tied her hands together before she could do anything, and that's when she finally noticed... Ronnie was BUTT-NAKED!  
  
"AAHHH!!!!" Misty screamed at the top of her lungs and she tried to get away. Ronnie used his muscle strength to hold her down though. "I told you I was going to have sex with you, and I meant it! No matter how hard you try, Misty, you and I will have our sex, starting now!!" he yelled and started ripping through her clothes.  
  
"No! No, no!! Help me!! Someone, please help!!" she shouted and Ronnie shook his head.  
  
"You stupid little whore. There's no one else out here but me and you! Face it... I've won, you've lost... hey, ever wondered what my penis looked like up close?! Wanna suck it?!!" he said and thrusted his groin at her face, then continued clawing down into her clothes when all of a sudden, a wolf bit into his side.  
  
"AAAHH!!!!" he screeched in the pain. The wolf started trying to tear his flesh, but Ronnie grabbed a gun out of his device and blew its head off. Misty quickly kicked him in his shins.  
  
"Oohh...." Ronnie grabbed his penis and balls and moaned in agonizing pain. Misty got up and with all her strength, whacked Ronnie in the face. This knocked him unconscious, and Misty used a nearby twig to cut the ropes, then dashed away from him quickly, not looking back. A while later, Misty finally reached the shack. She approached it and knocked on the door, being weary of anything suspicious, and Ronnie. No one came to the door so she knocked louder. Misty tapped her foot impatiently while waiting for the door to open. She still didn't answer the door so Misty bammed on it as hard as she could without hurting her hand. The door suddenly opened, and a old, mysterious woman (Yelola Winans) stood there. She was rather short, around 4'9. She wore a long, purple gown with matching houseshoes. Her gray hair was wrapped under a white scarf. She whipped out a Phased Energy Rifle and pointed at her.  
  
"Who are you, and what are you doing out here bamming on my door?!" she shouted, and Misty tried to explain herself.  
  
"Please, put the rifle away, ma'am, I come in peace."  
  
"Peace?! If you had come in 'peace' you wouldn't have bammed on this door and disturbed my sleep! Now, who are you and why are you here?!"  
  
"My name is Misty and I'm here because someone told me you could help me with something," Misty replied nervously.  
  
"Who sent you here?"  
  
"A Dr. Willis said you specialized in finding cures for viruses and lethal poisonings and such."  
  
Yelola slowly lowered the rifle and stared Misty in the eyes. She then motioned for her to come in. Misty was pretty uneasy as she stepped inside the small shack of a hostile woman with a gun. The shack was pretty decent; the wood on the floor was polished quite nicely. A beige wall helped liven up the room. There was two recliners sitting against the wall to the left of Misty, and a bookcase sat opposite of them. A glass table sat in the middle of the room holding all sorts of trinkets such as dolls, small lockets and small vases of flowers. The woman closed the door and sat the Phased Energy rifle on the wall, then walked over to the recliners and sat down in one. She offered a seat to Misty, but she declined.  
  
"You must be Yelola Winans, correct?"  
  
"Correct," Yelola responded. "Now, I'm gonna get straight to the point. What do you want?" she inquired.  
  
Misty cleared her throat and began speaking. "I've come to you for help. See, my sisters and my friend John have been injected with a lethal toxin that's slowly eating away at their insides. Their bodies can't fight the toxin because it has turned their defenses against them. The toxin is reprogramming their cells to create more toxins and release it into their bloodstream," she finished explaining to the elderly woman.  
  
"Have they been taken to a hospital?"  
  
"Yes, and the doctors have given them all of the strongest medicines, but it isn't working. The toxins destroys it and moves on. So I came to you for help."  
  
"Well, young lady, you won't give any help from me," she announced.  
  
"Hunh? But I thought you specialized in this sort of stuff," Misty said.  
  
"Unless you duel me," Yelola declared. "If you duel me and successfully defeat me, you'll get my help. What do you say?"  
  
Misty stared at Yelola coldly. "The lives of 4 people are at stake and you're concerned about a game?! They need some help!" she yelled, and Yelola stood up. She walked over to Misty.  
  
"Listen, I'm the one in charge around here, this is my house, wench! Duel me, or you won't get any help, understand!"  
  
"You little cow. Don't you realize that 4 people's lives are in danger? There's no telling when the toxin will began to become extremely life- threatening! We have time to try and avert this, so give me some help! Try to find a cure!"  
  
"Shut up! I've got no job! I get paid retirement checks and they're not enough! I must make money somehow, and this is the perfect way! Now, little wench, if you want your friends to get some help, you'd better swallow that pride of yours and duel me! If you win, we can talk business!"  
  
"I don't believe this. You don't how long their bodies can hold up to this virus, and you won't even try to find some kind of cure while they have a chance?! You witch, how can you just sit back and act like this is some kind a game?!!" Misty blood began to boil over as she got angry.  
  
"You told me the hospitals can't do nothing, right? (Misty nods) Well, it seems a person in your predicament would be trying to do anything and everything they can to help them. If you've forgotten, missy, time is ticking away while you're arguing with me! Ever thought about that?!" Yelola asked her, and Misty didn't answer. "I suggest you submit to my terms, or get away from my yard."  
  
Misty rolled her eyes and sighed deeply, then answered, "Fine, I agree to you stupid terms. We will duel."  
  
The elderly woman nodded and walked outside with Misty. "We will have our duel right out here."  
  
"But why here?" Misty was still quite nervous about Ronnie. She knew he wasn't going to stay unconscious forever, but he probably didn't know where she was, so she shouldn't worry. And the witch had a Phased Energy Rifle right inside the shack in case he did show up. Yelola layed out her Holochip and transformed it into a fiery red dueling console. Misty materialized her hot pink dueling console in front of her and whipped out her dueling deck, slamming it down into the deck-keeper. Yelola placed her deck into her deck-keeper and stared at Misty.  
  
"Look at you... that shining, orange-red hair spiraled down to your shoulders. You little wench, you think you're something."  
  
"Stop calling me a wench and duel!!" Misty retorted and frowned in extreme anger. She was having a very bad day.  
  
"As you wish..." Yelola said and smirked. "Duel!" they both shouted, and their life points began filling up.  
  
Misty's/Yelola's Life Points- 2000  
  
**************************************************************************** ******************************************************************  
  
Well, that's it. What did you think about this episode? I can't give you an exact date of when the next episode will be posted, but I believe in about 3 weeks I'll probably have the next one up. Don't forget, I now accept all reviews, signed and anonymous, so please, give a review and tell me what you think. Is it good, or bad? I really hope its good. So, I wonder what I'll do with the book next? Only time will tell... 


	6. Episode 06, 'Circumstances'

Oh, yeah! I'm back! Sorry it took so long, but I've got a life, you know? I'm quite busy often, and my sister uses the computer a lot, so I don't always get a chance to write my fanfic, though I try. And also, the modem to the computer broke, but we've got a new one now, obviously. I decided to post two episodes this time around, since I took so long to get it up here. I'll attempt to post the next episode a bit faster. Anyway, the tournament is finally about to begin now, and the crew will board the cruise ship to set their sights on Emerald Island (that's the next episode). Surge is out of jail, which poses potential danger to Tristan. Will Misty win the duel with Yelola? And remeber that freaky earthquake in Pallet Town, was that just a natural occurence or something else? Who is the girl on Cinnabar Island, and what does Meilin and Li have to do with Brock and Tristan? Get ready for a exciting, good episode of my fanfic! And please review. I really wanna know just how good a job I am doing on this book.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
P.S. In Episode 02, I had Maximillion Pegasus shipping out a lot of cards because I didn't know many duel monsters cards. But I have found quite a reliable source so I won't be doing much of this anymore, but I may keep one or two.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 06, 'Circumstances' (1/15/2003)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------  
  
Previously...  
  
*Aya...* "Hi! Morty, how are you? Remeber me, Aya Kristina Corrington?"  
  
"Oh, what's up Aya?" Morty (Jenkins) greeted her kindly. His height was around 5'10. His golden blonde hair was brushed into lots of wild plats. He had deep, ocean blue eyes that Aya deemed 'enchanting and mesmerizing'. Out of nowhere, a young woman around the age of 18 approached Morty. She was wearing a white dress and matching sandals. Her pastel pink hair was pulled back into a high ponytail (the ponytail was crinkled).  
  
"Who is this?" she wondered.  
  
"Oh, uh, this is my friend, Aya Corrington. Aya, I'd like for you to meet my lovely girlfriend Jasmine Cortez. (the Olivine City gym leader)"  
  
"Hi, nice to meet you," Jasmine extended her hand out toward Aya.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------  
  
*Meilin Rae/ Li Showron...* Meilin and Li stepped off the boat. They looked around at their surroundings and sighed.  
  
"Well, we're finally here. C"mon, let's go find Tristan and Brock," Li said to Meilin. Meilin nodded and they headed into the city.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------  
  
*Ash Ketchum...* Without warning, the earth suddenly began to shake. Ash wondered what was going on as the earth continued to shake. It wasn't bad, but it was bad enough to knock down a few things inside buildings. Then, it stopped. Just as quickly as it came it went away.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------  
  
*Seto Kaiba...* "Mr. Kaiba, he's there, in the parking garage," the doctor announced.  
  
"Good, now do your part..." Seto smirked and deactived his communicator.  
  
"Seto Kaiba? What are you doing here, leave me alone!" John ordered as he picked himself up off the ground.  
  
"I don't think that's possible," Seto spoke sinisterly. "See, you're trying to get me busted for jumping you and stabbing your nosy girlfriend, and that's just not acceptible."  
  
Seto ducked John's next punch and grabbed his shoulders. He pulled him closer and kneed him in the abdomen, then mustered all his strength and uppercutted John in the chin, which knocked John into a nearby windshield of a car. Seto snatched him off and banged his head into the hood of the car, then roundhouse kicked him with all his might, which rendered John unconscious.  
  
In the parking garage, Seto had administered the solution into John's system. He dropped John's body down on the ground and walked away with a smirk on his face. "That oughta teach them not to mess with Seto Kaiba," he chuckled and continued walking out of the garage. He (the doctor) grinned evily and injected all of it into Violet's arm, then moved over to Lily. He pulled out another one from his coat pocket and pressed the needle down into Lily's arm, administering the strange solution into her bloodstream. Afterwards, he got up and strolled over to the bed in which Daisy lay. He pulled out one last needle and injected the solution in Daisy via her arm, then round up all the needles and snuggled them into his pocket.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------  
  
*Unknown Girl...* There was a lone island off the coast of Cinnabar Island, and a mansion resided on it. Inside the master bedroom of the mansion, sat a 16-year old girl. She was registering herself into the Crystal Kingdom tournament. After she submitted her form, a devious smirk spread across her face.  
  
"I'm coming for you, Pegasus..."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------  
  
*Surge Crusher...* Robert gagged and tried to pry away Surge's grip, but Surge put his other hand around his neck, further tightening the grip.  
  
"Now, listen up," Surge spoke in a sinister tone of voice, "I am the leader of a gang. You know that, right? Let me, Jason, and Vicki outta jail right now, or else... Mommy Dearest is wasted, got it?"  
  
"What's your answer, Father?!"  
  
"I'll release you..." Robert's voice trailed off.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------  
  
*Misty Chase...* Ronnie sprinted after her, and gained on her rapidly (he sprint very often). He quickly caught Misty and tackled her to the ground.  
  
"Now, kiss me, Misty! Kiss me and kiss me good!!" he screamed and tried to french kiss her. Misty clawed his face with her fingernails. "AHH!!" he yelled, which gave Misty the opening she needed. She punched his face twice and kicked him off of her, then got up and took off running again. Once Misty regained her stamina, she started walking down the eerie road. Without warning, Ronnie jumped from a motor scooter onto her and tackled her to the ground. He quickly tied her hands together before she could do anything, and that's when she finally noticed... Ronnie was BUTT-NAKED!  
  
"AAHHH!!!!" Misty screamed at the top of her lungs and she tried to get away. Ronnie used his muscle strength to hold her down though. "I told you I was going to have sex with you, and I meant it! No matter how hard you try, Misty, you and I will have our sex, starting now!!" (Luckily a wolf came and bit his side, which drew away attention) Misty quickly kicked him in his shins.  
  
"Oohh...." Ronnie grabbed his penis and balls and moaned in agonizing pain. Misty got up and with all her strength, whacked Ronnie in the face. This knocked him unconscious, and Misty used a nearby twig to cut the ropes, then dashed away from him quickly, not looking back.  
  
(Yelola) "Have they been taken to a hospital?"  
  
"Yes, and the doctors have given them all of the strongest medicines, but it isn't working. The toxins destroys it and moves on. So I came to you for help."  
  
"Well, young lady, you won't give any help from me," she announced.  
  
"Hunh? But I thought you specialized in this sort of stuff," Misty said.  
  
"Unless you duel me," Yelola declared. "If you duel me and successfully defeat me, you'll get my help. What do you say?"  
  
"Fine, I agree to you stupid terms. We will duel."  
  
The elderly woman nodded and walked outside with Misty. "We will have our duel right out here." "Duel!" they both shouted, and their life points began filling up.  
  
Misty's/Yelola's Life Points- 2000  
  
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Misty and Yelola stood opposite each other, preparing to duel. The cricket chirps filled the air and it was somewhat eerie outside. Misty won a game of heads or tails, and she reached down to draw her first hand. She was determined to win the duel. The fate of her sisters and John depended on her. If she didn't win this, she would never be able to help them.  
  
[It's a good thing I went deck shopping earlier. If I hadn't, I never would've been able to take on this challenge. And with so much riding on this one duel, I cannot blow it. I have to win,] she thought to herself and looked over her five cards. "I'll play one card face-down and play another in defense mode." (she does this)  
  
(BTW, if you've ever seen 'The Ghost of the Maiden's Peak [Season 1 of Pokemon], then picture Yelola looking and sounding like the 'old lady') "You little wench, I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to draw me into a trap, aren't you?"  
  
"Why don't attack and find out; I could be bluffing," Misty dared her.  
  
"Oh, no you don't. I'm not falling for this crap," Yelola responded and pulled up five cards of her own, then decided to make her move after studying them for a short while. "Hmm... I'll also play one card face-down, then play Curse of Dragon, attack mode!" she slapped down her card, bringing the roaring Curse of Dragon into battle.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1800  
  
"Now, let's see what you're up to. Curse of Dragon, attack with Dragon Flame!!" Curse of Dragon powered up a large fire beam in its mouth, then spit it out at Misty's defense card. It loaded in and revealed itself to be a Battle Ox. As the attack headed ever closer, Misty flipped up her trap card which was waiting.  
  
"Ha! You fell for my trap. Mirror Force, activate now!" Misty's trap card created a magical barrier around the Battle Ox, and Yelola's attack was repelled right back toward her Curse of Dragon.  
  
"I knew you would pull a stunt like this, that's why I also played a card face-down," she flipped up for card. "Negate attack!" The fire beam flew into the warp and dissappeared. "Ha! Stopped you in your tracks, wench."  
  
"Stop calling me a wench!" Misty yelled, and Yelola laughed. Since it was her turn, Misty looked over her hand. Two of her cards were traps, one was a magic card, and the one monster wasn't strong enough to take down the Curse of Dragon. She drew a card from her deck and it revealed itself to be a Spirit of The Harp. This gave her an idea. "I'll play this in defense mode!" she put the card down, and the spot flashed to indicate it was on the field.  
  
"Hmm... running scared, little girl? Curse of Dragon, destroy the Battle Ox now!" Yelola ordered. Curse of Dragon roared and spit out another large fire beam at the Battle Ox. This time it hit and Misty's monster was destroyed. But since it was in defense mode, no points were lost.  
  
"Take that, little girl!"  
  
Misty rolled her eyes and drew another card from her deck, in hopes of a strong one. "This is a good one. Go, Labyrinth Wall!" she slapped down her card.  
  
"Aah! This could be bad news!" Yelola's eyes popped open as the ground began to rumble and shake. The Labyrinth Wall slowly begin rising out of the ground and the ground shook even more. Yelola's eyes remained fixed on the wall and Misty grinned. Once the Labyrinth Wall rose up and took is position, Misty pulled a card out of her hand and placed it down.  
  
"I'll play one more card face-down and end my turn," she said and stared at Yelola. "I'm sure you know about the new rules that apply when Labyrinth Wall is played, correct?"  
  
"I've never played on a Labyrinth field before!"  
  
"Well, that's the best news I've heard all day," Misty said. "Okay, to make this quick, your monsters move through the maze in paces. The level of stars on your card determines how many paces you can move through the maze. Oh, and the maze is a no-flying zone, which renders your Curse of Dragon useless. Understand?"  
  
"Very much," Yelola replied, then drew a card from her deck. "Okay, my curse of Dragon may not be able to move, but I've got other monsters, you know. Say hello to this, Garoozis, attack mode!" Garoozis snarled once it materialized into battle.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500 (?)  
  
"Hmm... I'll advance my creature three paces into the maze," Yelola said. Garoozis walked through three tiles, then stopped. Misty drew another card from her deck and smiled.  
  
"Allright, I'll play one card from my hand face-down and bring out the Red Archery Girl, in attack mode!" Misty placed down her cards and brought them into the duel. Red Archery Girl laid in her shell snickering.  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1500  
  
"Red Archery Girl, advance 2 paces," Misty ordered. The Red Archery Girl's shell floated two spaces then stopped. Yelola drew a card from her deck and played it.  
  
"I'll use this Monster Replace Card to exchange my Curse of Dragon for the monster in my hand with the highest attack power, and that is..." she paused until her new monster appeared on the field. "...Gaia, The Fierce Knight!" she laughed heartily.  
  
ATK: 2300 DEF: 2000 (?)  
  
"And Gaia does not move by flight, meaning its completely free to roam through your maze. Gaia, move in 5 paces, now!" Gaia obeyed its master and stepped forward 5 squares. It was now Misty's turn, and she reached down for a card. She drew it, then looked at it.  
  
[Witch of The Black Forest, this is perfect. Now all I need is a polymerization card and I can fuse the witch with Spirit of the Harp to create The Musician King, one of my favorite monsters.] "I play this monster in defense mode and end my turn," Misty does this, and Yelola scoffed.  
  
"What a waste of a turn."  
  
"Don't be so sure about that, you don't know what I'm setting you up against," Misty retorted.  
  
[She's right. That wench must be up to something if she keeps playing defense mode monsters. I'll figure that out later, right now, I need to concentrate on navigating my monsters out of the labyrinth and onto her side of the field. Then, I can obliterate her,] she laughed to herself, then drew a card from her deck and slapped it down. "I'll play this card face-down. Now, I know you've got some traps setup around here somewhere, so I'll make my Garoozis take the lead. Garoozis, advance 4 paces."  
  
Garoozis walked around a corner and continued through the maze until he reached his last step, then he stopped. "Hmm... since nothing's happened, Gaia, you advance 5 spaces into this maze," Yelola spoke. Gaia tredded through the maze on his horse, following the path Garoozis took. It stepped one space ahead, and that was all needed for Misty's trap to activate.  
  
"You went in too far, Yelola, for now I activate my face-down card, Spellbinding Circle!"  
  
"Oh no!!" Yelola watched in surprise as a mystical star surrounded her monster and entrapped him within a blue energy field. The knight couldn't move at all. "What is this? My monster's stuck!"  
  
"That's right, and not only is it unable to move, but its attack power has been lowered by 700 points!" Misty confirmed.  
  
ATK: 1600  
  
"Which leaves it vulnerable for my next move," Misty said and drew a card from her deck. It was a polymerization card. "Perfect. Now Spirit of The Harp, Witch of The Black Forest, switch to attack mode!" Misty's two monsters transitioned into attack mode, then Misty threw down the polymerization card in her hand. "And with the magic of this polymerization card, I'll fuse my monsters together to create..." Bright light swirled around the two monsters as the fusion began.  
  
Yelola frowned at this. "Whatever you're planning, I'm sure my Garoozis can hold it off!"  
  
When the fusion finished, there stood a new monster in its place. "Yelola, I introduce you to the Musician King!" Misty announced his presence.  
  
ATK: 1750 DEF: 1550 (ATK, DEF ?)  
  
"You little fool. For all your talk, your Musician King is still no match against Garoozis. I'll make it guard my knight. Garoozis, position yourself in front of Gaia, now!"  
  
"That's all you're doing for your turn? Your loss," Misty muttered and drew another card. She smirked and slapped it down onto the card reader. "Ha! Now its time for me to add this magic card which juices up my Musician King and turns it into a lovable Heavy Metal King!" Misty shouted, and Yelola's face took a surprised facial expression. The Musician King was given a deep blue jacket (with spikes on the shoulders) to wear over his bare chest (the jacket was still open). Dark blue boots, which was also fitted with spikes, replaced the shoes on his feet, and he received an attack and defense point power boost.  
  
ATK: 2050 DEF: 1750  
  
"More than you bargained for, eh, Yelola?" Misty taunted. "Heavy Metal King, advance 5 spaces into the maze and attack Garoozis!" Heavy Metal King walked 5 squares as directed by Misty, and it ran right into Garoozis and the ensnared knight. "Now, Heavy Metal King, how about you play our guest here a tune," Misty smiled as her monster stroked the guitar. A rising, high-pitched tone sounded and strong sonic waves traveled right to Garoozis. The waves surrounded the monster, and it began to squirm and huddle tightly in an attempt to weather the attack. It failed, though, and the Heavy Metal King's attack made it vaporize off the field.  
  
Yelola's Life Points- 1750  
  
"I'd say that was a smash hit, hmm?"  
  
"Stop teasing me, wench!" Yelola retorted and drew for a card. [I had no idea this little girl would be so formidable; I underestimated her skills and abilities in this game. I'd better take her seriously, or else she might take me down.] Yelola looked over the card she had just drawn, and it was a Flame Swordsman. "Oh, goody! I'll play this, the Flame Swordsman, in attack mode!" Flame Swordsman loaded at the start of maze and stood steadfast with its sword ready for battle.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500  
  
"Flame Swordsman, advance 4 spaces." (it does this)  
  
Misty decided it was time to play the one magic card in her hand. She pulled it up and threw it onto the card reader. "Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards from my deck instead of one." She then reached down and grabbed two cards, looked them over, and grinned. "This is perfect. I'll lay out one card face-down, and play this one (slaps it down), Remove Trap!"  
  
Yelola's hidden trap, Graverobber, shattered. She snarled in disgust and spoke, "You stupid girl. I have to admit you are good, but I won't let you defeat me!" she drew a card from her hand and slapped it down. "I'm using the magic of Salamandra to add 700 extra attack points on my Flame Swordsman!"  
  
ATK: 2500  
  
"More than enough for me to destroy that wretched Heavy Metal King with. Flame Swordsman, attack with Salamandra Flame Strike!!" Flame Swordsman growled and thrusted his sword out, launching a fire dragon at the opposing monster. However, Misty was ready.  
  
"Uh-uh, not so fast, cow! I invoke the power of De-Spell, which takes away your magic boost from your monster!"  
  
ATK: 1800  
  
"This is really bad!!" Yelola yelled in shock.  
  
"Heavy Metal King, do your stuff, now!" Misty commanded. Heavy Metal King negated the oncoming Salamandra Flame Strike with his own attack, then launched the powerful sonic waves into the Flame Swordsman. The swordsman tightened in an attempt to withstand the attack just like Garoozis did, but it eventually succumbed to the attack and vaporized.  
  
Yelola's Life Points- 1500  
  
"It's my turn now," Misty drew a DoppleGanger card out of her deck. [Hmm... DoppleGanger. Its special power is that it can copy anything currently on the battle field. This gives me an idea.] "I'll play this card, DoppleGanger!" she slapped it onto the card reader.  
  
"DoppleGanger? What's that?"  
  
"DoppleGanger is a special magic card that allows me to copy anything present on the field. Hmm... I wonder what I'll do with this. There aren't many options, but I guess I'll go with Gaia the Fierce Knight," Misty declared. The DoppleGanger went to work immediately, and within seconds, a brand-new Gaia the Fierce Knight found itself on the field right beside the Heavy Metal King.  
  
ATK: 2300 DEF: 2000 (?)  
  
"This is extremely bad!"  
  
"With two strong monsters like these Yelola, the odds are stacked in my favor. Gaia the Fierce knight, obliterate the other Gaia now!" Misty's knight charged toward Yelola's weakened (and ensnared) knight with its javelin spear prepped for attack. The horse ran faster, and when it approached Yelola's knight, Misty's knight stabbed it which caused to shatter violently.  
  
Yelola's Life Points- 800  
  
Yelola gasped and quivered in fear. "My life points! I'm trailng by a whooping 1200 points! This can't be happening!" she grabbed her hair and pulled on it.  
  
"You shouldn't have never challenged me, old witch. I'm outwitting you at nearly every turn. Save yourself some embarrassment and concede the match."  
  
[She's right, she is beating me. I might not be able to win this... but... I can still have the advantage over this wench.] "Okay little girl, I quit. I don't think I can win," Yelola places her hand over her deck, signifying that she was throwing in the towel.  
  
Misty powered down her system and collected all her cards, stacking them in the deck. "Guess you realized that you're not such a hotshot duelist after all, hmm? Better late than never," Misty quipped while she stored her deck and her now converted Holochip into her device. Yelola does the same; she stared deeply into Misty's eyes and smiled.  
  
"What are you looking at?" Misty wondered, then shrugged it off. "Whatever. Now, I've completed your task. I beat you fair and square in a duel, so now its time for you to hold up your end of the bargain and research the virus."  
  
"Do you have the virus with you?" Yelola asked, and Misty nodded in response. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled it out, then handed it to the woman. Yelola looked at it carefully. "Well, I must say this is truely interesting. I've never seen such a strange liquid before in my entire life."  
  
"What do you make of it? Can you do something?"  
  
"I believe I can, but I won't."  
  
"Hunh? What do you mean you won't?"  
  
"That's just what I mean. I won't!"  
  
Misty scowled at Yelola. She began to fill up with anger, again. "You specifically told me if I beat you in a duel you would began researching the virus!"  
  
"For a price," she stated.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I said I would help you, but for a price."  
  
"You didn't say anything about paying a price for your help," Misty said, but Yelola shook her head. "On the contrary, miss. I did say you had to pay me to get my help. I guess you didn't hear me," she smiled and pissed Misty off even more.  
  
"You old wench!! You never said anything about a price!!!"  
  
"Yes, I did!! To quote my exact words, I said: '"If you duel me and successfully defeat me, you'll get my help (voice changed to extremely light whisper) for a price. What do you say?' See, I did tell you what I said, you were just too dense to comprehend it," she giggled.  
  
That did it. Misty raised her fist in the air and whacked Yelola straight in the face. "You take that price tag and shove it all up your crack!! Research this virus now!" she ordered, but Yelola suddenly darted inside the house. "Hey, get back here!" Misty gave chase, but once she reached the doorway, Yelola had grabbed her Phased Energy Rifle and prepped it for firing. She pointed it straight at Misty's head.  
  
"Listen up, little girl, hit me again or try to make me do something your way and I'll disintegrate that head of yours. We're gonna do this my way, got it?!"  
  
Misty put her hands up in the air and backed down. She nodded, and Yelola lowered the gun. "Okay, good. Now, in order to get my help, you have to pay me.... hmm... 3 million dollars!!" she spit out and caught Misty by surprise.  
  
"What?! 3 million?! I don't have that kind of money in my possession!"  
  
"Well then, I guess you won't get any help. I don't have any job, and I need to make money."  
  
"So, you don't care if the lives of 4 people are at stake? They're dying for all you know, and you won't even try to save them."  
  
"So what if they're dying?" Yelola spoke out, and Misty looked at her in disbelief. "I, and even you, deal with this every day. I watch television, and I see those commercials up there talking about staring children and how you can help if you call in and donate some of your money. They try to get you to feel sorry for them, but I don't. I don't know those kids, I don't help them out. And I don't know these... 'people' just as much as I don't know those kids on television. So, pay me the money or get out of my face!" Yelola gave Misty an ugly glare.  
  
Misty stared at Yelola angrily, then spoke, "I may not have the money right now, but I'll be back. In the meantime, research the virus and see what you can find."  
  
"Look at you, you wench, you're still barking orders. I'm not gonna even research this virus until you show me the money."  
  
"But... you should already be researching the virus so when I come back with the money, the cure can be almost, if not complete. What's the use in doing nothing?"  
  
"I'm quite sure if I get the cure now you'll try to steal it from me and rob me of my money. I can't risk that. Pay me the 3 million dollars and I'll start researching the virus, and once I find something, I'll contact you. Now, go away," Yelola pointed the powered rifle at Misty, and she walked off the property fuming with anger. Yelola laughed and closed the door.  
  
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The following morning (around 7:30 AM), Surge and his gang of friends had been released by Robert on a technicality. This was much to Robert's dismay, but he couldn't risk Surge going after his own mother, so he turned him loose. Surge was also given back his dueling deck, but they were without the dragons. Surge was determined to track down Tristan and beat the crap out of him until he gave him the cards back. But was Tristan at home? While he was planning to steal the cards, Surge had watched Tristan to try and learn his pattern of life, and most Friday mornings Tristan was never at home, so where could he be? Maybe he was at his friend Brock's house? Or he could've been somewhere else; he really couldn't know. Surge and the gang walked up to the cottage in which Surge resided in. Surge opened the door and walked inside, and they followed him in. Jason fell out on the couch and sighed.  
  
"Ohh... I don't think this sofa's ever felt so welcoming," he sighed again in relaxation. Vicki sunk down into one of the leather chairs.  
  
"I know what you mean, this feels so good, especially after sitting around on those hard jail benches. You'd think since they were keeping you for such a while they'd put in some comfortable seating or something."  
  
Surge clapped his hands twice to get their attention. "This isn't the time for us to just be sitting around. We've gotta mission to do. Tristan has my cards, and I want them back," he said and pounded his fist into his hand.  
  
Jason sat up. "Boss, c'mon. We've been couped up in that jail cell for so long. Let's get some rest and go after Tristan later," he suggested and Surge stomped his foot.  
  
"NO! Tristan took my Gamma Dragons from me and I.. want.. them.. back! No one bullies Surge Crusher like this! NO ONE!!"  
  
"Boss, chill out," Vicki quipped. "We'll get back your dragons. First off, we have to find Tristan before we can do anything. Just take it easy, okay? We'll get Tristan, but in the mean time, take a little R&R time, allright? It might do you some good."  
  
"Okay... I guess," Surge replied and sat down in the chair next to Vicki. "I've only got about a day left to register, right?"  
  
"Yeah, boss," Jason spoke up. "You have three days to register. Around Saturday at 1600 hours, it closes down. So, you've got plenty of time."  
  
"Yes, I see," Surge muttered and got out of the chair, then headed back to his bedroom. "I'll be in the bedroom for a while relaxing in the tub and practicing my Martial Arts. Don't disturb me!" he stated firmly then went inside the room and closed the door. Inside the room, Surge took a seat on his bed and pulled off his shoes. He yawned and stretched, then laid back on it. All it took was a good threat to make that dickhead father of his back down. Robert had many girlfriends before, but Debbie Crusher was Robert's first and only true love and he was very protective of her. Robert wanted nothing awful to happen to Debbie, and Surge used that as an advantage point to get his way. Gullible fool. Surge couldn't even bring himself to kill his mother, but he believed it anyway. Then again, he could. Probably would be fun to watch, and it would serve her right for disciplining him as a child... Surge sat up and pulled off his shirt and pants, leaving his boxers as his only article of clothing. He went to the adjoining bathroom and walked over to his tub. He turned in on and while it filled up, Surge went back into the room and flopped down on the bed. He grabbed his portable computer (think of a Gameboy Advance with a small keyboard attached to it) off the nightstand and lay back across the bed on his abdomen. He activated the computer and pressed on all the buttons to navigate his way to the online service. After speaking his password, the computer logged on to the virutal internet and he checked the current list of duelists who would be participating. Scrolling down the list, Surge searched carefully for Tristan Taylor in the list, and he found it. So, the little punk was going to try his luck in the tournament, eh? And he was sure he was gonna use the Gamma Dragons too. Surge decided to register for the tournament in order to keep track of Tristan. After doing that, he checked for any e-mail but nothing was there. Then, he logged off, deactivated the computer and sat in back down on the nightstand. He got up and went into the bathroom to find the tub now filled with water. Turning off the faucet, Surge pulled off the boxers and stepped into the warm water. He pressed a button on the faucet and some bubbles began flowing into the tub. Surge then sunk down into the warm massage and sighed. He rested his head back on the tub and let the small, focused beam cleanse his body of dirt. He was going to get his cards back, and Tristan was going down...  
  
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Meanwhile, out in the forest, Ronnie had fallen asleep for the rest of the night after Misty knocked him unconscious. He was still naked from last night. The sun's bright rays of light shone down in his face and he began stirring into consciousness. "Ohh.. oh..." he moaned as his eyes slowly began to open. The sun's rays greeted them though, and he quickly shielded his eyes with his bare arm. Ronnie was a little annoyed as he murmered and turned around to get his face out of the sun's path, then he sat up and rubbed his hands through his wild hair and sighed heavily. Everything from yesterday was coming back to him... he remebered just watching Misty closely at first, then as the day turned into night, he revealed himself to her and tried to sleep with her. But Misty refused. Why? What did he ever do to her? Why was she so scared of sex? It was normal for teenagers to make hot love to each other, so why was she repelled by it? Ronnie remebered trying to force himself on her, and he had her, but some stray wolf bit him in his side which gave Misty the chance to kick him in his privates and get away. Ronnie looked over at the bite. It was a deep wound at first, but overnight it became a little bruise... Ronnie then groped his privates to see if they were still intact. Misty kicked them pretty hard, but they were still there. Ronnie slowly stood up from the ground and wandered out of the bushes he was lying in. The motor scooter was still sitting there running, and fortunately for him, it still had a considerable amount of gas inside. Ronnie mounted it and sped off, heading back toward Wilderness Road.  
  
"Oh, Misty, why did you have to make things so hard? Everything would be much, much simpler if you would just give me some good sex! Don't think this is over yet, it's just beginning..." Ronnie's voice trailed off as he sped straight toward the city...  
  
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At the Kaiba estate, Mokuba was enjoying this lovely morning in the theme park. He threw his hands up in the air and screeched as the roller coaster thundered down the track at fast speeds. His brother Seto was upstairs on the master bedroom's balcony. He sat down at the table outside and began looking through some papers. With the extra funds, he was now digging his way out of the hole and back on top. Seto smirked with pride. It was all going just as he predicted, and now with those sisters and that John guy silenced because of the virus, he wouldn't get discovered by the cops. Seto had to admit, he didn't want to inject the virus into the trio because they were Misty's sisters, but it had to be done. Seto just hoped Misty never found out. It would ruin their friendship with each other and she'd most likely try to kill him. Hopefully, they wouldn't come to such blows. Seto worked on the papers for about 40 minutes, then he stood and took them into the house. He sat them down on his nightstand and walked over to a mirror.  
  
"Hmm... I'm just not satisfied with this outfit," he said to himself and walked back over to his dresser. He pulled out some khaki slacks and a black silk shirt, then slipped them on. Stuffing his other outfit into the dresser, Seto closed it back up and put on some black shoes to go with the outfit. A nearby butler knocked on the door.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba? Pardon me for disturbing, but there is someone outside who wishes to see you," he spoke in a thick, British accent. "Shall I send her in, sir?"  
  
"No, it's okay. I'll meet whoever it is downstairs," Seto replied and walked out of the bedroom. He had a pretty good idea of who this 'visitor' could be, but his intuition could be wrong. After setting his coordinates, Seto stepped on the teleporter tile and was taken downstairs. After he reappeared on the tile, the young man stepped off and walked up to the large door. He reached out and opened it, and to his surprise, it was Misty.  
  
"Hello, Seto," she greeted.  
  
Seto was a bit nervous around her, but he kept it well hidden. "Misty, what's up?" he responded and stepped outside to where she was. "Um, how are you?"  
  
"Oh, well, I've been better," she told him, and Seto knew why. She was probably worried about her sisters little 'incident'. "How are you doing?" Misty asked him, and he shrugged.  
  
"Oh, I'm fine. Never been better. (slight pause) Hey, you wanna go around to the back? Possibly enjoy a soak?"  
  
"A soak in what?" Misty wondered, and Seto shook his head. "Oh, never mind, forget it. But how about we go around to the back and have a little talk?" Seto really didn't want to do this, but he had to keep acting normal. Misty decided to take his offer and they headed around the huge house. They walked quite a while before they reached the enormous backyard of the mansion. Seto walked up to a table and scooted out a chair for Misty to sit in. Misty sat down and Seto took a seat beside her.  
  
"So, what's going on in your life, Misty? Are you going to participate in this Duel Monsters championship?"  
  
"I don't know, probably not. I mean, there's just so much stuff going on in my life, and I don't think I can take it."  
  
"What's happening?" Seto pretended to be curious, but he knew what was wrong. She was saddened about her sisters.  
  
"Seto, I need to ask you something," Misty said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Um... I really don't know how to say this... I guess I'll just cut to the chase," she paused for a slight moment. "Seto, I need your help."  
  
"..With what?"  
  
"I need you to loan me some money for something."  
  
Seto shifted his position in the chair. "Money for what?"  
  
Misty cleared her throat before continuing. "Could you loan me 3 million dollars, in cash, please?"  
  
"3 million dollars?!" Seto was slightly surprised. "What the heck do you need 3 million dollars for?"  
  
"I uh... I need it to save my sisters. Some kind of terrible virus has infected their systems, and uh, the doctors has tried everything they can, but nothing's working. The virus, it has disabled their immune system, by that I mean it's turned the immune system against the body, and I need help. Someone who is an expert at this type of stuff can help, but she wants be to paid 3 million dollars, and that's why I need it," she announced, and Seto froze. Oh no, what was he going to do? If he gave her the money, her sisters would tell. But if he didn't give it to her, she would be mad, and possibly suspicious. Misty know he has more than enough money, and if he doesn't give it to her, she'll probably start snooping around. But... maybe he could cover it up somehow, like say he's having finacial troubles. It was the only idea that came to Seto's mind, after all, that was why he jumped John in the first place; he just didn't expect Daisy to butt in and get herself stabbed.  
  
"Uh, Seto, will you loan me the money?"she asked again to get his attention.  
  
"Um, Misty I hate to tell you this, but I don't think I can. See, I'm having finacial troubles."  
  
"Finacial troubles? Seto, I know you make over 700 million dollars a year, how can you be having finacial troubles? Look at everything you have: this colossal mansion, a massive amusement park in your backyard, a lake for a swimming pool, golden patios, personal arcades, sprawling game rooms, that weightless simulation technology is installed all over the estate, must I go on? You've got everything a person would ever dream of at your disposal at all times, and yet you can't give me 3 million dollars?"  
  
"If you would just listen to me, I assure you, you'd understand. See, someone robbed my house and took the majority of my money out of my vault. Fortunately, the Holochips are still selling really strong, so my funds are slowly building back up. But right now, I don't think I can afford to give away any money."  
  
Misty scoffed and sighed. "I can't believe this. Seto, I thought we were friends. You're able to pay for all this stuff but you can't loan me 3 million dollars? And especially when its to save someone's life?"  
  
"Misty, I told you what happened. I can't risk it. I may have all this stuff, but it does not come for free. I have bills to pay, and don't forget about Mokuba. I have to feed him; I have to buy him clothes, and take care of him in general. But I can't do that without money. Now, I'm sorry, okay? But, I don't have enough money. If I did, I'd give it to you with haste, but unfortunately, circumstances has conspired against me and now I don't," Seto told her.  
  
Misty seemed to accept this information. "Allright, I understand. Are you sure you can't give me 3 million dollars? Their lives depend on me getting that money," Misty tried once more, but Seto shook his head.  
  
"I'm really sorry, but I don't have any money to spare."  
  
Misty got up from the chair and started to walk away. "Thanks, even though you couldn't give me anything. I guess I'd better be going now."  
  
"So soon? Don't you wanna stay for a little while? I heard that Aya was going to be coming over this afternoon, sure you don't want to hang around for a while? We could eat lunch together, or something," Seto offered, but Misty rejected.  
  
"Sorry, but I've got some business to take care of. Maybe later," she said and walked off. Seto sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. He was actually glad Misty was leaving. He was so nervous around her, mainly because of what he did to her sisters. Maybe he shouldn't have done that. He should've just let them go and tried to convince them not to tell. Seto knew they weren't going to do that though, which is exactly why those four was injected with the virus. It was done now, and he couldn't start second-guessing himself. Seto got out of the chair and walked into the house. Although he was getting his funds back, he still wasn't anywhere near what he used to have. Which was why he was planning to take over his neighbor company, Industrial Illusions. Sure, they may have been collaborating, but if he managed to take out Pegasus and take over the company, he would be even richer than ever before. He would be super filthy rich! He would have so much money at his disposal that he could spend money build a house out of money. With all that cash flowing in, Seto would never have to worry about anything anymore. It wouldn't be an easy thing to do at all, but it wasn't impossible. That was his next plan: taking over Industrial Illusions.  
  
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It was a shady morning in Pallet Town, and people walked about doing their daily business. At Ash's house, everything looked quite calm. The lights in his house were out, and no one was in the backyard. It was quite desolate. Suddenly, a cluster of green energy shot a symbol hanging from a tree and destroyed it. Ash was off in the forest (behind his house) getting some long range target practice. He reloaded the gun with new ammunition and aimed for another target. This target was a pole which was farther away than the last one. He eyed the target carefully, to make sure that what he was aiming at was the actual thing. Suddenly, his eyesight honed in on the object.  
  
"What the..." Ash was shocked. "How is... this possible..." he wondered. He could see the target perfectly now, because his eyesight had zoomed in on it. Ash closed his eyes, then opened them back up to find that they returned to normal. What had just happened to him? He didn't have any binoculars, yet he could see as far as one. Maybe Pegasus was right, maybe he did have some kind of special powers. But how would it be possible? Delia never had any powers, as far as he knew. He knew nothing of his father though, perhaps that was where we got them from? Ash had no idea. He sighed and decided to try it again. He squinted his eyes and focused on the pole, hoping he could do it. However, this time around, a bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck the pole down. Ash gasped in shock. That was no coincedence, either. There wasn't any thunderstorm going on, and Ash knew it was him who channeled the lightning down to the pole, but how could he do all this? There was so much about this mystical side of him that he didn't understand. He needed to know more, but that was the least of his worries. Ash was bent on killing Pegasus and avenging his mother's death. Pegasus had done too much to just be let off freely. He had to be punished.  
  
"But if I can learn to control my secret powers, perhaps taking Pegasus down will be a much easier task. I need to know more, but where can I learn? No one's here to teach me how to control my powers," Ash slipped the gun into his pocket and walked back toward his house.  
  
"Ash..." a voice called to him. Ash whirled around and his mother stood in front of him. After what happened last time, Ash knew that this was a trick from Pegasus.  
  
"Pegasus, I know that's you under that disguise!" he shouted, but Delia shook her head. "No honey, it's me. It's really me, your mother. I've come back for you, Ash."  
  
Ash would not believe this. "No! Get away from me! You're nothing but a fake, a delusion, a psychic trick! Stay away from me!"  
  
"Ash, no! It is really me, Delia Ketchum, your mom whom you adore. Don't be afraid, Ash. Don't run away. You don't have to worry; I won't hurt you. Please, come to me. I've been resurrected..."  
  
"How? No one just gets up and walk away from their grave. How did it happen?!" Ash demanded to know, and Delia shook her head in response.  
  
"I honestly don't know, Ash. The last thing I remeber is being killed by Pegasus, then I woke up outside of my grave. I know I must've been dead for a long time, because you've grown..." she approached Ash to rub his face, but he backed away. "I understand why you're scared. (pause) Look at how much you've grown, you've become my little man."  
  
"Get away from me!!" he whipped out the Plasma Blaster and shot at Delia's abdomen, but her body opened up to allow the blast to go through to the other side, then it closed. "I knew you were just a deception from Pegasus."  
  
"Ash, you ever wonder where you get your powers from? You got them from me; I just never used them in front of you because I wanted you to grow up and be a normal kid. You can open up like that to avoid shots, too, you just have to try," she said gently. Ash didn't know what to believe. She sounded and acted just like Delia used to act, but was she Delia? Or was it another of Pegasus' deceptions? Pegasus have sent quite a few tricks, which made it nearly impossible to tell.  
  
"Mother... is it.. really you?" Ash inquired, and Delia nodded. "Yes, honey, it is me. Come now, let us join together and take down Pegasus," she extended her hand to him, then suddenly tackled him to the ground. "Ooh... baby, look at how manly you've become!" she laughed wickedly, then said, "Ooh, let me check your privates! After all, it's been one year, let me check your groin and balls and see how much they've developed. By now, they should be big and juicy, oh!" she tried to force her hand down into his pants, but Ash quickly snatched her hands away from his areas and punched her in the face twice. Then he mustered all his strength, uppercutted Delia in the stomach and sent her soaring into the air. She landed on a tree so hard that she broke the branches and made them come crashing down with her. Delia slowly stood back up, then she morphed into Pegasus.  
  
"This is not over, Ashy boy. The final showdown have yet to begin..." And with that he dissappeared. Ash's hands shook violently as he stood there. He was boiling over with anger and rage. He wanted to kill Pegasus so badly. [First, Pegasus kills her, now he's playing all these sick mind games with me and trying to give my dear mother a bad, perverted image.] Ash noticed how high he sent Pegasus into the air and began to wonder if it had something to do with his mysterious powers. If he only knew how to tap into these powers, then Pegasus would've died right then and there. Ash stormed away toward his house.  
  
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After Flint's approval, Brock decided to have a sleepover at Tristan's house. He was still there right now, and they both sat in Tristan's bed playing a video game of the fighting genre. Brock landed a power punch in Tristan's character and knocked him out.  
  
"Ha, ha! I win, you lose!" he exclaimed and grinned. Tristan tried to make an excuse of why he lost.  
  
"No, no, you cheated. You must've set my fighter to be less resistent to punches."  
  
"I did no such thing!"  
  
"Yes, you did, or else you wouldn't won," Tristan said, and Brock pushed him down on the bed playfully. "Stop being such a baby and admit that you lost."  
  
"I won't admit to that, because you cheated," Tristan suddenly grabbed Brock's shirt and pulled him down on the bed too; then both of them began fake wrestling.  
  
"Why don't you just admit that you cheated?" Tristan asked.  
  
"I told you, I didn't cheat," Brock argued. Tristan shrugged and stop wrestling. "Ah, whatever. So, you up for a duel? You got lucky last time, but this time I'll beat you."  
  
Brock sighed. "Sorry, Tristan. I'm currently modifying my deck and I'm positive that it's not in dueling condition."  
  
"Oh, c'mon man. Just one little duel?" Tristan begged, but Brock refused.  
  
"I can't right now. My deck is way outta line. I'm trying to get it perfect for the championship..." a loud thud could be hear downstairs.  
  
"Grandma?!" Tristan jumped off the bed and darted downstairs to find his grandmother unconscious on the floor. "Grandma, Grandma!" Tristan rushed over and kneeled down beside her. "Grandmother?!" he shook her gently, and Brock raced down the stairs to see what was going on.  
  
"Tristan? What happened?"  
  
"I don't know, she must've tripped and fell," Tristan said.  
  
"Or maybe... (a punch noise sounded, thud was heard) someone knocked her unconscious. Ever think of that?" a deep voice sounded. Tristan turned to around to see Brock lying on the floor, and Surge stood beside him holding a wooden pole.  
  
"Surge?! What the..."  
  
"Hello, Tristan!" Surge greeted. "Long time no see, eh?"  
  
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in jail!" Tristan yelled while standing up.  
  
"Supposed to be... but I'm not. The sheriff let me off on a technicality, Tristan. After I got to him and had a nice 'talk' to him, he let me and my lackies out."  
  
"What did you do to my Grandma?!" Tristan demanded to know.  
  
"Oh, I tried to be nice. I came in and she ran after me with this pole, here. The chase didn't last long though. I took it from her and whacked that old cow upside the head," Surge spoke and smiled sinsterly. "She's got a lot of spunk, though, you know, for an old lady. It almost saddened me to hit her, almost."  
  
"You punk, get out of my house, now!"  
  
Surge laughed and said, "You really think I'm gonna do that just because you ordered me to? (laughs) You must think I'm a fool or something! Now... enough chitchat. Let's jump to the chase," Surge slowly approached Tristan, still grasping the pole in his hands. "Tristan, you caused me to get locked up, my Gamma Dragon cards were taken from me, and that just doesn't sit well with me, you know? No one's ever made a fool of me and lived to tell the story."  
  
"Guess I'll be the first," Tristan retorted and Surge swung the pole at him. Tristan barely managed to catch it and snatched it away from him. He threw it aside and punched at Surge. Surge ducked the punch and kicked Tristan in the stomach, then delivered two punches to his face. Tristan evaded Surge's roundhouse kick and spin kick Surge in the face. Both of them took fighting stances and stared each other down.  
  
"You're gonna pay..." Surge said and went on the offense. He threw five jabs at Tristan, all of which Tristan dodged. Surge caught Tristan's face on the 6th punch and tried punching him again. Tristan ducked it and kicked Surge in the chest, then punched him three times in the stomach and tried spin kicking Surge's face. Surge caught his foot and rammed Tristan into the nearby wall, shattering the mirror on it with Tristan. He tossed Tristan to the ground and tried punching down on Tristan's chest. Surge's fist met Tristan's shoe though, and Surge snatched his hand away. Tristan flipped to his feet and ducked a vicious punch from Surge, then grabbed him and kneed him in the stomach twice, then kicked him right on the forehead, causing Surge to stumble back into a nightstand filled with two glass flower vases and break them. Tristan wasted no time and kicked Surge again, then punched his face. Surge blocked Tristan next punch and elbowed his abdomen, then grabbed him and threw him over to the stairwell. Tristan fell back down the stairs, and Surge snatched him up by his hair and rammed his head into the wall. Tristan dug his hands into Surge's arm and scratched as hard as could (Surge screamed), making Surge release him. He then uppercutted Surge and sent him crashing into the wooden table, which broke upon impact.  
  
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Morty Jenkins walked up the steps to his townhouse. Jasmine had just left his home after spending the night over, and he was looking forward to tomorrow, because he was supposed to meet Jasmine at a health spa downtown to have some rest and relaxation (along with fun). He adjusted the Millenium Key on his neck and continued up the last few steps. His face had a huge smile on it as he entered the townhouse. It wasn't big; the only rooms in it were a living room, a small kitchen, and a bedroom and bathroom. He walked inside and shut the door behind him. He sighed and switched on the light. Then, a sedative stuck down into his neck, rendering him unconscious. Kemo pulled out a cell phone and called 'Master' Pegasus.  
  
"Yes?" Pegasus' voice sounded on the other end of the phone.  
  
"Master Pegasus, we have the guy. Should we bring him to the estate?"  
  
"No. Take Morty and fly over to the palace at Crystal Kingdom, then lock him away in the underground dungeon chambers. After all, the palace is to be my home for the next few months," Pegasus told Kemo, and he nodded.  
  
"As you wish, Master Pegasus. Morty will be transported immediately," he said and clicked the phone off. "Allright, troops, round him up and take him to the helicopter," he ordered and the troops did not object. Part 1 was Pegasus' plan was in effect.  
  
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At the mansion off the coast of Cinnabar Island, a small aircraft, much like a shuttle from Star Trek, was rising off a launch pad. Inside it was the girl. She looked out of a window while sipping a glass of fruit punch. Her destination was Domino City, and there she was going to see Maximillion Pegasus once again. She really missed him; Pegasus was always good to her and kind too. They used to share so many good times together, and she loved to wake up the next morning after a hot night together and brush his platinum hair. She was determined to win back his love. Ever since that tramp Cecilia had introduced herself into his life, they grew distant. But now she was going to make sure she'd get him back, especially now that Cecilia was dead. A servant approached her holding a plate of glasses (with fruit punch in them).  
  
"Princess Sakura, would you like some more punch?"  
  
"No, thank you," Sakura replied and took another sip from the glass of punch. "How far are we from Pegasus's mansion?"  
  
"Uh, exactly 4 hours," the servant answered, then walked away. Sakura smiled and sipped some more of the fruit punch. In exactly 4 hours, she would reunite with the love of her life and nothing would separate them. With Cecilia dead, their love would be eternal.  
  
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Tristan and Surge continued fighting on. Surge rammed into Tristan and pushed him back into the kitchen. Surge pushed Tristan onto the counter and knocked all sorts of pans off on the floor. He gripped Tristan's throat.  
  
"Where are the cards?! Tell me!" he ordered. Tristan reacted quickly and dug his finger into Surge's eye. "AHH!!!" he screamed and let his grip go to rub his eye.  
  
"I'm not telling you anything," Tristan said and kicked Surge's face. He grabbed a pan from the floor and swung at Surge with it, but Surge ducked and tried punching Tristan. Tristan dodged the punch and popped Surge's chin with the pan, then whacked him in the face. Surge grabbed the pan the next time Tristan tried hitting him and snatched it away. He kicked Tristan in the stomach and roundhouse kicked his face afterwards, knocking Tristan to the ground. Surge snatched Tristan up by his collar and jabbed him in the jaw, then punched his three times and tried kicking him. Tristan managed to grab Surge's foot and fling him around onto the base of a center island. Tristan snatched Surge up by his hair and hit him twice. Surge pushed away from Tristan and snatched one of the drawers on the countertops (it was full of dinnerware, which clashed on the floor) open and chucked it at Tristan's head. Tristan ducked, then dodged the numerous forks Surge tossed at him. Tristan then tackled Surge onto the ground and punched him in his face repeatedly, but Surge stopped him by jabbing his stomach. Shoving him off, Surge stood and yanked out another shelf and dropped it at Tristan. Tristan rolled out of the way and stood, taking a fighting stance. Both of them went at each other with all they had. Surge threw six punches at Tristan, and Tristan blocked them all, then punched Surge in the nose. He kicked at Surge, but Surge ducked and kneed Tristan in the stomach. He grabbed and rammed him into the nearby countertop stacked with glass dishes. Surge pulled a butcher knife out of the sink and tried to cut Tristan's throat with it, but of course, Tristan resisted. They pushed with all their might, trying to achieve their objectives. Surge's was to cut Tristan; Tristan's was to get the knife away. Tristan stomped on Surge foot as hard as could, making Surge drop the knife. He picked up Surge and threw him onto the counter, and Surge fell onto the dishes and made them fall onto the floor with him and break. Surge slowly got up, and looked at Tristan. Both of them were full of bruises and breathing heavily.  
  
"This isn't over, Tristan, I will be back!" Surge said and darted out of the back door. Tristan was about ready to drop down onto the floor and pass out, but he didn't. He limped into the living room where Munella and Brock lay unconscious on the ground. Munella began to stir.  
  
"Grandma, Grandmother!" Tristan approached her. She moaned and sat up, then looked over at him.  
  
"Oh, dear, look at you! You look terrible!" she exclaimed and rubbed her hand across Tristan's numerous facial bruises.  
  
"Oh, what happened?" Brock murmered as he began coming to. He got up and looked around. "Boy, this house sure is a mess," he commented.  
  
"Grandma, are you okay?" Tristan inquired, and she nodded.  
  
"Quite fine, actually. A little shook up and the back of my head is throbbing, but other than that I'm right as rain, whatever that means. You, however, look like you've had a far worse time. How are you?"  
  
"I've been a whole lot better," Tristan answered. Munella looked over at Brock and said, "Hey, dear, go into the bathroom and get the Dermal Regenerator (a small device which heals and regenerates all skin tissues and stuff) for me."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Brock acknowledged and walked off in order to get the item. Tristan sighed and looked around the ramsacked house. "Man, me and Surge really tore this place up."  
  
"I thought you said Surge was in jail," chimed Munella.  
  
"Me too, but he told me he'd been released on a 'technicality'."  
  
Munella stood up and looked around the house. "My, my, this place is a mess. You and Surge must've gotten into a scuffle?"  
  
"Yep, he tried to beat me up and take the Gamma Dragons, but I defended myself quite well," Tristan told her as Brock came rushing back into the room with the Dermal Regenerator. He handed to Munella, who turned it on and held it up to Tristan's face. A small, green beam flowed out of the device and began to heal and rebuild Tristan's bruised skin.  
  
"What happened?" Brock wondered aloud. "One moment I'm rushing down he stairs to see what was going on, next moment I get hit over the head and I black out."  
  
"It was Surge," Tristan told him, and Brock gasped. "Surge, but how? I thought he was in jail!"  
  
"So did I, but he showed his face here and tried to take my cards. That's what happened to my Grandmother and to you; Surge came and knocked both of you out, then we got into a scuffle. Obviously, I won because I still have my cards and Surge is gone."  
  
"There you go, all fixed up," Munella said and put away the skin device. Tristan rubbed his hand across his smooth face and sighed. The bruises were gone, and so was the pain. Brock decided to help Munella fix her house back up, and Tristan walked upstairs to get a small shower and change his clothes. Entering his room, he closed the door behind him and sighed. What was he going to do? As long as Surge was out of jail, he and anyone else who were close to him was in potential trouble. Should he just give Surge the cards? Tristan rejected that idea. He wasn't a quitter or a chicken. If Surge wanted to resort to violence over the cards, then he could bring it on. Tristan was sure he could take anything Surge threw at him. He walked off into the bathroom and closed the door.  
  
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Li and Meilin had decided not to go to Tristan or Brock's house and pay them a visit that way. They were going to surprise them instead. Li and Meilin spent the night at a small motel on the outskirts of downtown Pewter City, and were now planning how they were going to show up. Li shook his head at one of Meilin's ideas.  
  
"No, no! That totally sucks! There's no way they're going to like that!"  
  
Meilin scoffed. "Fine, whatever. You got any ideas?" she asked him while combing her pigtails. Li laid across the bed thinking for a while.  
  
"Hey, I think I got an idea."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, you know there's a new Duel Monsters tournament about to start, right? I took a list at all the current players registered for it, and both of their names were on the list. So, we could just surprise them on the cruise ship when it set sail," Li suggested.  
  
"But, we're not even in this thing. There's no way we could sneak past security and get aboard the boat," Meilin pointed out.  
  
"Which is exactly why I'm gonna enter that tournament."  
  
"You're going to enter a tournament just to surprise two boys? If you've noticed, it costs $15.00 to register for it..."  
  
"But I want to enter the championship anyway. I've been refining my deck ever since the game first came out, and now I'm a master at it. I could win the 100 million dollar prize! Or, at least the 50 or 75 million dollar prize!"  
  
"Li, just because you're good at the game doesn't mean you'll automatically win. Sure, you may trounce the duelists in the sub-competition, but once the 2 months are over and the real championship begins, it is only going to be elite duelists there. Who knows, it could be some better than you, after all, you're not the best duelist alive," Meilin said.  
  
"I'm good enough. On a scale of 1 out of 10, 9.9 out of the 10 duels I play I tend to win. And the duelists I duel are really good, too."  
  
Meilin scoffed again. "If anyone should enter the tournament to win the prize money, it should be me. I kick your crack every time we duel," she remarked.  
  
"Nuh-uh! I beat you the majority of the time!" Li retorted, and Meilin giggled. "If you add 'who loses the most' as a category, you surely trounce me in that department," she said and giggled some more.  
  
"Allright, then. Let's duel and see who shall win!" Li declared, but Meilin held up her pigtail in his face.  
  
"Li, I'm doing my hair. Maybe later."  
  
"You're just afraid of losing."  
  
"Oh please! What would I be afraid of! I kick your butt every time we play Duel Monsters!"  
  
"No, you don't!" Li retorted, but Meilin just laughed in response. "Li, you know that every time we play, I trounce you. Admit it."  
  
"Okay, well maybe you do, but that's only because I go easy on you."  
  
"Please! I can tell by the way your face look when you're dueling that you give it your all. Stop making excuses. Now, forget about who wins this and who wins that," she said and sat down on the bed next to Li. "I'm tired of waiting. Li, we're madly in love and I think it's time to move our relationship to the next level."  
  
"Meaning?" Li inquired, as he had no idea of what Meilin was talking about.  
  
"I mean, I think it's time we shared out first intimate moment. What do you say?"  
  
"Whoa!" Li jumped back. "Meilin! You know we're too young for that. We're barely 15 years-old! You can't seriously be thinking about sex!"  
  
"Li, c'mon, you know you wanna ravage me. So, let's do it. Let's take a chance and do something wild. We've kissed, we've played outside naked, we've swam butt naked before, we've slept naked, we've even slept naked underwater, but we have never have sex before. C'mon, let's do it. Haven't you ever wondered what it was like?" Meilin questioned him, then pulled down her shirt to show her breasts, which tempted Li even further. He thought about it over and over, and without further ado, he jumped on Meilin, which made her giggle.  
  
"Allright, let's do it," he muttered and they began kissing ravenously while tearing through each other's clothings. Li pulled off Meilin's top and Meilin ripped Li's shirt off of him. They continued kissing wildly and passionately. Li tore Meilin's bra off her chest, then began taking off his pants. Then, Meilin pulled off his boxers and Li pulled off her panties. Then they began to kiss each other more ravenously than before, and within moments, hot sex ensued...  
  
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Press on to Episode 07 to see the rest of what happens (not the sex either!). 


	7. Episode 07, 'The Cruise'

Disclaimer: I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 07, 'The Cruise' (1/15/2003)  
  
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It was around noon time in Domino City now. Solomon Moto was busy running the Turtle Game Shop, and it was beginning to get a little hectic. The shop was more crowded than usual because the tournament started tomorrow, and all the duelists were trying to refine their decks to the utmost perfection. Yugi was in his room looking through his deck of cards. He was wondering whether he should upgrade the deck, or to leave it alone and let it stay the way it was. The deck was already exemplary as is, and Yugi didn't want to destroy the hard work his grandfather put into it to make the way it is today. But on the other hand, the deck was getting old. It was high time to boost the deck with new cards to give it some more firepower and strategies, but Yugi still didn't want to ruin Solomon's deck. Yugi decided to debate this issue with Yami to see what he thought about it.  
  
[But Yami, the deck is good like it is and I don't want to destroy it. Grandpa put a lot of time and effort into creating it.]  
  
[Then don't bother it,] Yami said to his alternate self. [If you feel that improving the deck is gonna ruin it, then leave it alone. But, you know as well as I do that it's about time that deck get a serious upgrade.]  
  
[I see your point, Yami. I know the deck is getting old, but I just don't wanna change it from the way Grandpa set it up. He'll probably be upset if he found out.]  
  
[So be it, then. But, don't come crying to me when Joey crushes you in the championship.]  
  
[Joey?! Joey can't beat me. He's tried hundreds of times, but he can never manage to outfox my deck,] Yugi said quite confidently.  
  
[That plays right into my point! Because you've crushed Joey so many times, he just about know your deck by heart. And he's out there redoing his deck, right now, as we speak. When you two meet in the championship, he's probably gonna blow you away because he's gonna start playing strategies you've never seen him do before. Yet, he'll be able to counter just about anything you throw at him because he's played with you many times before, and I know he's memorized your deck. Now do you get my point?] Yami inquired.  
  
[Totally. I see what you're saying Yami, and you may very well be right. It is probably time to boost this deck, but... for some reason, I don't wanna bother it. Once I think about the thought, effort, and determination Grandpa used while building this deck, it makes me want to leave it alone. I can't just tamper with something he's fixed up, you know? Like, let's say you're a music artist. You spend hours recording a song, and it's just perfect. But someone comes along, listens to it, and thinks it could use some work. So they just start rewriting lyrics, changing the beat, and fixing it to what they think is good. How do you think you would feel if you came in to listen to the song one more time before releasing it to the public, only to find that its been tampered with?]  
  
[I have two answers to that question. One, if they did go behind my back and edit the song, but it turned out to be better than what I put together, I'd congratulate them. If they rearranged the song and messed it up, then I would be mad. Boosting the deck could go either way Yugi. If you boost it to a way that your grandfather thinks is superior to the previous version, you won't have anything to be ashamed of, and he won't be mad. And on the other hand... well, you know what I'm about to say, so I'll shut up.]  
  
Yugi sighed deeply before continuing. [I don't think I am going to bother it, but then again... argh! I'll decided about it later,] he finished, and Yami switched to another subject because he was growing rather tired of this one.  
  
[So, Yugi, are you still gonna go on that frivilous excursion for your parents?]  
  
[It's not frivilous! And of course, I'm not going to back out now! I still believe that they might be stranded on that island, and I am not stopping until I get there and find them!]  
  
[Whatever, Yugi. You know, I can't believe you think they'll be alive after over 14 years? The probability of them still on that island is very slim to none, none being the dominating category. I've never heard of anyone missing for that long, then being found again.]  
  
[I know the odds, but I have to see them and meet them! If I've got a chance to search for them, I can't just claim that they are dead and move on. I mean, for all we know, they could still be alive and in desperate need of help.]  
  
[Yugi, please! I'm positive that someone would've seen them or heard from them or something if they were alive. They would've found some kind of way to alert someone to their presence. Who knows, maybe they didn't even make it to the island. The boat might've sunk while they were making their way there, and their bodies could be floating somewhere under the surface of the ocean.]  
  
[Possibly. But some boat wreckage would've been found if that had happened.]  
  
[You know, maybe when they arrived there, they decided to go scuba diving until your father's match came and a giant shark devoured them or something. Or, a strong current could've pulled them underwater before they had time to put on their oxygen masks and they drowned...]  
  
[Enough probability scenarios! My mind is made up,] Yugi thought and reorganized the deck of cards, storing them inside his device. Just as Yami was about to speak again, a knock came on the window. Yugi got up and raced over to the window to see who it was. To his surprise, it was Joey! Yugi opened the window to grant Joey passage.  
  
"Joey? What are you doing? Why didn't you just come through the front door?" (Yami) [He's a lunatic.]  
  
"Ah, I just wanted to do something exhilarating, you know, instead of just coming in through the front door as usual," he answered while climbing through the gap.  
  
"But climbing windows can be dangerous."  
  
"Dangerous? (laughs) Please! I climb trees all the time, so climbing a window is as easy as saying my ABC's."  
  
[I doubt he even knows his ABC's,] Yami quipped, and Yugi frowned. [Yami, chill out. Why are you being so harsh?] Yugi asked, but Yami didn't respond. He then turned his attention back to Joey. "So, what brings you by my house, Joey?"  
  
"Nothing, just wanted to see how my little buddy was doin', that's all. I'm wondering Yugi, are you participating in the Duel Monsters tournament? It's supposed to be some stiff competition this time around."  
  
"Oh, yeah, I'm participating? Are you?"  
  
Joey began to get excited. "Of course I am! So, you're in this thing too, hunh? It's your very first participation, you nervous?"  
  
"Not really. I'm very good at this game, and my deck is good too, so I pretty sure I'll at least make it to the preliminaries of the real tournament," Yugi said. "Are you nervous?"  
  
"Heck, no! I'm bold, bad, and I'm ready for this thing! Especially with that awesome deck Mr. Moto gave to me. That deck kicks serious butt!" Joey exclaimed, and Yugi chuckled. "Which brings me to 'da question, are you gonna boost and refine your deck before the start of the tournament?"  
  
"Aw.. not this question again. I just got through debating with myself about this, literally! Anyway, I think I might keep it the same. I believe its good enough to win this tournament, and with the Heart of The Cards behind me, how can I lose?" Joey chuckled with Yugi for a moment, then Yugi brought up a question. "So, how about we have a little practice duel to prep ourselves for the tournament?"  
  
"Nah... I can't, my stomach is saying otherwise," Joey clutched his grumbling stomach, making Yugi laugh. "Hey, what's so funny?! It's noon time, and I need my lunch!"  
  
"I don't know if there's anything downstairs to eat. Grandpa is supposed to be going grocery shopping, but the store's really busy and he can't take a break to go get anything. He might've ordered out for something though; we can go check," Yugi suggested and Joey nodded in agreement.  
  
"Let's do something, or else I'm gonna collapse. (stomach growls again) "Ohh... little tummy's saying it's time to eat, not to duel." Both of the young boys headed downstairs to see what they could put in their stomachs.  
  
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Meanwhile, down at the Pegasus estate, Maximillion himself was preparing to board a airplane. (a small note: Pegasus had his launch pad built near the backyard instead of the roof, because he found it to be more efficient to access). His destination was the Central Palace at Crystal Kingdom, which was going to be his abode for quite a while. Pegasus brushed his hair out of his eye while stepping up into the plane, and numerous bodyguards began following him inside. He seated himself as the pilots in the cockpit began pressing touch screen panel buttons (much like Star Trek panels) Within seconds, the plane's engines fired in and the plane began ascending off the ground. Pegasus whipped out a cellphone and dialed in a number, then waited for a response. A few rings later, his trusty guard Kemo answered the call.  
  
"This is Kemo speaking," he said.  
  
"Kemo, this is your boss, Maximillion Pegasus. Last night, I ordered for a young man by the name of Morty Jenkins to be transferred to my palace. Has he arrived?" he requested, and the guard gave him a positive answer.  
  
"Affirmative, master. The man has been taken here and locked away in the underground dungeon chambers as you requested."  
  
"Goody, goody. I trust you also have the Millenium Key off his neck and in your possesion?"  
  
This time Kemo did not answer right away, instead he began stammering nervously. "Uh, uh.. um... w- well... um-uh, I uh..."  
  
"You uh.. what?"  
  
"This isn't my fault, Master Pegasus. We tried to take the key, but it wouldn't come off his neck," Kemo told him.  
  
"What? What do you mean?"  
  
"Once we hauled him in, we immediately tried pulling the key off his neck, but for some strange reason, it wouldn't move. It's like it's... glued to his skin, or it is his skin, that's what it acts like."  
  
"Oh, no. This is bad. This is really, really bad! Have you figured out any ideas on how to get that Millenium Key off his neck? Surely there must be something you can do, right?"  
  
"I've got some people researching this mystical stuff right now, as we speak. So far, they haven't turned up anything," Kemo informed. Pegasus began to shake his head in disbelief.  
  
"No, no. This can't be! No, this is bad!" he grabbed his hair in frustration.  
  
"Uh, Master? Master Pegasus, is there anything wrong?" Kemo asked, getting a bit concerned. Pegasus shook it off.  
  
"No, no, it isn't. Here is your orders: keep researching the texts and keep trying to pry the key off his neck. I'll be there shortly. In the meantime, I am about to get my massage treatments and I don't want to be disturbed, understood?!" he inquired firmly.  
  
"Yes, Master Pegasus, I will not disturb you."  
  
"Good. Remeber your orders," Pegasus finished and hung up the phone. He sighed in utter disgust. This was one twist he didn't expect. Things were not going the way he planned them.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------  
  
Meanwhile, Morty's girlfriend, Jasmine Cortez, was sitting on a bench outside of the spa treatment center. So far, she hadn't seen any sign of Morty. He told her he was going to be off work today, and that he was going to spend some quality with her getting pampered at the center, but he hadn't shown. Jasmine was getting a bit worried, mainly because she had been waiting for over two hours. As she sat on the bench, she wondered where he could be. Why hadn't he came yet? Has something bad happened to him? Maybe he had to go to work after all, or maybe something came up and he had to bail. But usually when something happens, he'd call her and tell her about it. A flame red powerbike with a young woman on it pulled up on the curb and stopped. The engine shut off and the young woman dismounted the bike. She then pulled off her helmet and approached Jasmine.  
  
"Hey cuz, what's up?" she greeted her cheerfully.  
  
Jasmine shrugged. "Nothing, really. Morty was supposed to come with me to this spa treatment center for a little R&R time with me, but he bailed on me. He hasn't shown," she responded.  
  
"Oh," the woman sat down on the bench next to Jasmine. "Well, maybe you just need to give him time. If he's like five minutes late, don't get all gloomy. It happens sometimes. You know, traffic could be backed up, or..."  
  
"I've been waiting on him for over two hours straight, but no sign of him as of yet," Jasmine told her, and the young woman's mouth dropped open.  
  
"You're kiddin', right? (Jasmine does not deny this) Girl, (hits her playfully) you know better than that! I don't care who it is, I would never wait over two hours for someone to show on a date!" she exclaimed.  
  
"Shut up, Whitney! (remeber the girl that whacked Tristan with her bike in Episode 02?) It's not like that. Once you're really truly in love with someone, you'll understand. Anyway, it's just not like him to stand me up. He's always been a prompt boyfriend, ever since day one. I just don't get it. You know, maybe he's still sleeping or something."  
  
Whitney laughed. "Morty? Sleeping?! Heck, no! Morty's too active to be asleep at 12:10 hours. He's an earlybird, remeber? You told me so yourself."  
  
"Yeah, but I don't have any other possible explanations. Where else could he be? What else could he be doing?"  
  
"Perhaps he caught a bad cold or something. Maybe he's at the hospital because he injured himself, or he could be at the hospital because one of his family members got injured," Whitney thought aloud.  
  
Jasmine shrugged and got up from the bench, sighing heavily. "Hey, Whitney, do you think you could run me by Morty's house so I can see if he's there?" she asked and Whitney nodded.  
  
"Yeah, sure, c'mon," she replied and walked over to the bike. She grabbed two helmets and slipped one on. She gave the other one to Jasmine and she pulled it around her head. Both of them mounted onto the bike. Whitney cranked up the engine then sped off down the street.  
  
"So, if he is at home, what are you going to do to him?" asked Whitney.  
  
"If he is at home, I'm gonna slap him around for standing me up, then make him beg for my forgiveness. Then, I'll accept, we'll kiss, and then we'll head back down to the spa treatment center. If he's not at home, though... I'm gonna get even more worried," Jasmine said and held onto Whitney as she sped down the boulevard, driving rather recklessly. Once they arrived at the townhouse, Jasmine dismounted off the bike and gave the helmet to Whitney. She told Whitney to wait for her outside while she run in to see if he was there or not. After Whitney nodded, Jasmine ran up the stairs toward the front door. When she reached it, she knocked on the door and waited for Morty to answer. But no answer ever came. She sighed and knocked on the door again, this time louder than before. And still, no one came to answer the door. Jasmine bammed on the door in frustration.  
  
"Morty, open the door now!!" she shouted, and her bamming caused the door to creep open. She thought it was him at first, but once the door stopped moving (because she stopped knocking) she realized it her bamming that made it start opening. Slightly cautious, Jasmine opened the door and crept into the living room of the townhouse. It was still very neat, because Kemo had sedated him instead of fighting him and messing up the house. Jasmine looked around the small living room while calling out Morty's name.  
  
"Morty!! Hello?! Are you here, honey?!!" she yelled out, but she didn't get an answer. She walked off into the kitchen, and everything was neat there, too. No sign of Morty could be seen there. Jasmine began to get worried even more. Where was he? The only place she hadn't checked out was his bedroom/bathroom combo. She was scared to go upstairs and check. What if Morty's dead body would be awaiting her? Jasmine knew she had to go check, so she mustered all the courage she had and charged up the stairs.  
  
"Morty!" she yelled again, but apparently to no one. She reached the top of the stairs and looked aournd the bedroom; it was very neat, as usual, and the sight of Morty remained to be seen. Jasmine noticed that the bathroom door was cracked open. She could hear some water running into a bathrub. That had to be Morty. Maybe he did just get up late like Whitney said. (the water stops running) She walked into the bathroom to find another man stepping into the tub with some headphones on his head. Jasmine stepped back out of distance and listened carefully to the sounds he made. There was faint music sounds coming from the headphones, but they stopped. The man sat the headphones down and rested his head back on the tub, letting the beam cleanse his body of all dirt. Jasmine crept back into the bathroom. The man had closed his eyes, so Jasmine tiptoed as quietly as possible toward the tub. Once she got there, she suddenly lashed out and dunked the man underwater. The man began struggling and thrashing about while screaming.  
  
"(gurgled sounding) Please, stop! Stop this! Let me up, please, whoever you are!!" he screamed as loud as he could. Jasmine snatched him up out of the water and let him catch his breath.  
  
"Allright, just what are you doing in my boyfriend's house, using his bathtub?!" she demanded to know.  
  
"Uh.. this is your boyfriend's house? It's nice..." the man was cut off when Jasmine dunked his head back under the surface. He began to kick and thrash about again in a desperate attempt to get out of her grasp. Jasmine stared him in the eyes as she watched him flutter about in the tub, then she yanked him back up.  
  
"Okay, I'll ask you again, what are you doing in my boyfriend's house, using his bathtub?!" she asked him again, and the man held up his hand in a gesture that told her to wait a minute.  
  
"I didn't know this was your boyfriend's house. I was going to explain how I got in here but you threw me back underwater before I had the chance," he said.  
  
"Well, talk."  
  
"I'm a homeless man, young lady. I was walking down the street, asking people for money or food as I usually do. Then, I stumbled upon this house. The door was wide open, so I walked inside and looked around, and no one was here. It was all vacated, so I decided to move in. And I'm sure you can figure out why I got in this tub," he told her. Jasmine was good at detecting liars. She knew the signs to look for, and so far, the man hadn't shown her any signs of deception.  
  
"You don't look dirty," she said.  
  
"Oh, that's because I've been in this tub for awhile."  
  
"But... it takes the tub longer than 5 seconds to cleanse your body of dirt. I heard you and saw you climbing inside the tub just a few moments ago."  
  
"Don't forget, young lady, I've been sitting in this tub being dunked by you for a little while now. The beam has had multiple opportunities to clean me," he answered, and Jasmine looked over to see an expensive black suit lying on the floor. She reached out and grabbed it, and upon touching it, something fell out of the pants pocket. She grabbed the card, and it said: 'Simon Marsters, guard for Master Pegasus since 2027'. She threw Simon back underwater and held him there.  
  
"(gurgled sounding) "No, wait! Please, what's wrong!! Why are you doing this?!!"  
  
Jasmine snatched him out of the water and hit him across the face visciously. "Don't give me that homeless man crap! Tell me what you were doing here!" she yelled, and Simon didn't answer. She punched him in the face again, then hit him in the nose, and he still wouldn't say anything. Jasmine dunked his head back underwater and held him there. "Now, talk! I've picked up on the fact that you don't like being dunked, so answer my questions, and I'll let you go!"  
  
"No, pull me up! Pull me up!!" he begged, but Jasmine ignored him. "What were you doing in this house?!!"  
  
"I stayed behind after they took him away!"  
  
"Who took him?! Where is he?!"  
  
"You gotta let me up..." Simon motioned for her to pull him back up. Jasmine yanked him up to let him get a little air, then dunked him right back under the surface. "(fast talk) Maximillion Pegasus had your honey captured because he possessed a mystical artifact called a Millenium Key, something he wears around his neck! Pegasus claims that is has some kind of power to it, and he told us to get it. Me and my comrades broke into his house and sedated him no soon he stepped inside! Then, my comrades flew him over to the palace at the Crystal Kingdom! That's where he is, but I can't tell the exact location of the palace, because only Pegasus's closest associates knows where it is, and they are gone too! Now please..."  
  
Jasmine reluctantly pulled him out of the water. The man coughed all the water out of his mouth and throat and started catchng his breath. Jasmine punched him in the face, then started walking away. Right when she got to the doorway, she turned around. "Get all your things, and get out of this house now, dick!" she ordered.  
  
"Dick? Please... don't call me that. That's a direct insult to a man's privates, and that's far too special. You didn't know, but I'm really a woman!" Simon announced. "I love men so much that I decided to become one. I had my voice altered to sound like a man, got my tits deflated, and I had a fake penis, or dildo, stuck onto my areas. It's detachable, see," she said and pulled off the penis. Jasmine's face cringed in disgust as she darted out of the house screaming. "Hey, you should do it, too! Men are better than women! They are the superior sex, and we should all be like them!!" she shouted. Jasmine was utterly disgusted as she ran out of the house and jumped on the bike.  
  
"Did you find Morty?" Whitney inquired, and Jasmine shook her head.  
  
"Not in the house, but I know what happened to him."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"(fast speech) The guy who created Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus, had Morty abducted and took him to a palace at the Crystal Kingdom, where the Duel Monsters Championship playoffs are supposed to take place. He had him kidnapped because of that thing he's always wearing around his neck; it's called a Millenium Key and it's said to possess mystical powers."  
  
Whitney just stared at her in confusement. "What?"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------  
  
Sakura's small plane gently touched down on the launch pad at the Pegasus estate. The butler which accompanied her slid open the door. Sakura elegantly stepped out of the plane, shaking her head to remove strands of hair from her eye. She began strutting through the backyard of the mansion, heading toward the mansion itself. Inside awaited her lover (or so she thought). Finally, after all this time, they would be reunited, their love for each other would be strengthened, and there wouldn't be anything powerful enough to split them apart. Sakura approached the door and tapped on it, then waited for an answer. None came, so she knocked again. This time, someone opened the door. Sakura shoved her way through him and started walking through the house, but the man quickly grabbed her and spun her around (the man is Croquet).  
  
"Excuse me, young lady, but what do you think you're doing barging into Master Pegasus's mansion?"  
  
"Uh..." Sakura thought hard about a story that would make sense as to why she was there.  
  
"You had better tell me exactly why are you here, or else I'll be forced to throw you out," Croquet told her, and she began to talk.  
  
"I'm here because I have a arranged meeting with Mr. Pegasus, sir, and I'd like to speak with him immediately," she spoke in an innocent, yet somewhat devious tone of voice. Croquet was a bit skeptical about this.  
  
"But Master Pegasus has gone away to the Crystal Kingdom in order to take care of important business regarding the Duel Monsters tournament. I'm quite sure that he would've met up with you earlier this week if you actually needed to discuss something with him."  
  
"I have been trying to reach him, but he keeps evading me. I have a proposition that would benefit the both of us, but for some odd reason he doesn't want to debate it."  
  
"Then there must be something fishy about this 'deal', because Master Pegasus is never wrong," Croquet said.  
  
Sakura cocked her head to the side. "Hmm... well, if I can't catch up with him, perhaps you can do me a favor and relay a message to him. Can you do that?" she inquired. Croquet responded by nodding, and she continued on. "Tell him this: I have some footage of Pegasus in my possession which depicts him doing some 'interesting' stuff. If I showed the public this footage, it would ruin his image and end his career indefinitely. Perhaps now he'd be more willing to talk, eh?" she smirked.  
  
"Show me this.. footage."  
  
"Oh, no! Why would I do that? That would be giving you an opportunity to destroy it. Tell Pegasus my message, or you can tell me where he is and I'll go deliver the message myself."  
  
Croquet shook his head. "I'm afraid that isn't possible. I have no idea where Master Pegasus is exactly; only his closest associates know precisely where he's heading and they've accompanied him on the trip. But, I'll give Pegasus your little 'message'," he told her and started walking away.  
  
"Thank you," Sakura gave Croquet an air kiss and strutted away, exiting the house. A few butlers had come outside to make sure Pegasus's yard was clean and in order .As she approached the plane, some of them wolf whilstled at her butt, bringing a smile onto her face. Her butler slid open the door to grant her a clean passageway through the plane. She stepped inside and seated herself. As the butler closed the door, the pilots asked her where she wanted to go next. Sakura ordered them to take her back to the mansion, and the pilots obeyed quickly. Sakura then accessed her Subspace Computer Terminal and transported a portable computer to her lap. After it materialized into reality, she turned it on and logged on to the virtual internet, heading straight for Pegasus's registration website.  
  
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16:00 hours, Saturday afternoon had now come. All the contestants had entered into the tournament and it was now time to set sail to Emerald Island, home of the 'Sub-Competition' which was to be held. Everyone had their own reasons and agendas as to why there were entering. Some were playing for money, others were playing for exposure and popularity, others were playing to help someone else, some people were playing all for self. Brock entered the tournament in order to obtain the money necessary to pay for Flint's back and shoulder surgeries. Tristan entered for fun, but also to back Brock up, so if Brock lost, he could still try to win the tournament for him. Surge only entered the contest to keep an eye on Tristan Taylor until he could steal his cards back. Jasmine's goal was to get to the Crystal Kingdom and attempt to locate Pegasus's hidden palace in order to rescue Morty from Pegasus's clutches. Ash's only motive was to kill Pegasus, but to do that he had to make his way through the contest in order to get to Crystal Kingdom and find the palace. Misty knew she had to save her sisters (and John), and she entered to win the money and pay for Yelola's help. Li entered the contest for pure fun, and an added bonus will be surprising Brock and Tristan on the cruise ship (Meilin's tagging along). Greed motived Seto's objective. He wanted Pegasus's company to bring in more revenue, and he planned to get it. Yugi entered the tournament to began an excursion of Crystal Kingdom for his parents who hadn't been seen in over 14 years. Joey entered to kick some butt and have tons of fun, of course. Sakura's heart led her to entering the tournament. She was determined to find Pegasus and win back his love. Mai Valentine also entered, but for reasons that have not yet been revealed. Whatever the reason, there was tons of people awaiting the beginning of the championship. Transport boats brought all the duelists from other areas to the Domino City docks, where the cruise ship was. Guards watched as the duelists boarded the ship (not the exclusive duelist ship, either). Everyone stepped into the ship and was amazed at what they saw. The lobby itself was full of different aisles and corridors to walk through. The lobby's walls had water flowing down them, and the falls deposited into small canals which ran through the floor of the lobby. The floor was made of strong, durable glass, as was the roof of the lobby, and neon lights glowed through the seems of the glass. Stores were everywhere, and colorful lights and neon signs decked the huge place. It was absolutely gorgeous! People gasped in awe and astonishment as they walked through the beautiful place, taking in their surroundings. Brock and Tristan looked around in amazement.  
  
"Tristan, this place is beautiful! I never expected it to look this good!" Brock exclaimed, still struck in awe at the sight. Tristan didn't respond because he was so busy looking at all the beautiful lights in the ceiling. "And the floor is made of glass.. Tristan, doesn't this ship kinda makes you feel like a prince?"  
  
"Oh, yeah," Tristan agreed as they walked through the ship. Sakura wandered through the maze of corridors, completely lost. She too was amazed with how much details and beauty Pegasus had put into the ship.  
  
"My Pegasus sure know how to put together a ship. It's just like him to build something like this," she said to herself as she walked along. Misty strolled through the various 'streets' of beauty. She was amazed at how much detail had been put into the cruise ship, but that was the least of her concerns. What she wanted was to get to Emerald Island and began fighting her way to the prize. (by the way, Aya came down with the flu so she couldn't come along with Misty) Misty was so busy trying to keep her bearings that she wasn't paying attention to where she going, and as a result, she bumped into someone.  
  
"Oops, sorry..." her voice trailed off as she stared at the person who stood in front of her. "Joey, oh my goodness, what are you doing here?!" she exclaimed and threw her arms around Joey, obviously exuberant to see him.  
  
"Misty! How's my favorite girl of all-time?!" Joey asked her as he hugged her tightly. Yugi looked on in confusement. "Wow, I can't believe it's been over 3 years since we last saw each other!" (a little background: When Misty moved from Cerulean City to Domino City, she ran into Joey in class [4th grade]. They became close friends and Misty moved away again when they reached 6th grade. Then, Misty came back to Domino City recently, but she lived far away from Joey's neighborhood, so they didn't see each other until now)  
  
"Yeah, I know! It seems like the last time I saw you was yesterday, but at the same time it feels like I haven't seen you in ages! You know what mean?"  
  
"Yep, I totally understand," Joey said, then hugged Misty agained, and she returned the hug. "Oh, I can't believe you're standing right here! It's so good to see you!" they released each other, and that's when Joey remebered to introduce her to Yugi. "Oh, in all the excitement, I forgot to introduce you to my best buddy, Yugi Moto. Yugi, this is Misty Chase, an old friend."  
  
"Hello, nice to meet you," Yugi extended his hand for Misty to shake, and she shook it.  
  
"Pleasure's mine," she replied.  
  
"So, Misty, how's everything been?"  
  
Misty wasn't quite ready to tell anyone about her sisters' condition, so she kept it to herself. "Things are great, thank you for asking. How about you? What's been happening in your life?"  
  
"Not much. I haven't flunked anymore grades since the 4th, and that's a plus."  
  
"Uh, mind if I cut in here?" Yugi chimed, making both of them turn their attention to him. "I'm gonna go find the food courts. I'm starting to get a little hungry, here," he told the two then walked off.  
  
"What else has happened to you? I need some details about what's been going on since I moved away to Celadon City," Misty said.  
  
"Are you sure? I could be going on for hours about what happened," Joey stated, but that made her want to know even more.  
  
"So, start spilling! Please, I could use a little pick-me-up right now," she said, and Joey sighed. He cleared his throat before speaking. "Well..."  
  
Surge, Jason, and Vicki had managed to avoid eye contact with Tristan and made it to their suite. Surge had been given a keycard downstairs, and he used it to open the doors to their guest suite. Walking inside, they took a look around. "Wow, man, this place looks so much more luxurious than that cottage of yours," Vicki quipped.  
  
"That's great, I'm gonna go lay down," Surge walked off into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. He allowed himself to fall right onto the king-size waterbed and laid there. Surge never knew how good a waterbed could feel. He pulled his deck out of shirt pocket and looked through them. The deck was pretty good by itself, but it missed its key cards, the Gamma Dragons. Surge was determined to get the cards back from Tristan, no matter what it took. No one has ever humiliated him in the past and got away with it. Surge wasn't about to let Tristan be the first person to accomplish that, either. Once he got those dragons back, he was gonna blow Tristan away in a duel, then beat him down to let him know not to cross his path again. Surge smirked as he daydreamed about his goal. / Li and Meilin strolled through the massive lobby, looking for any sign of Tristan and Brock. So far, they hadn't had any luck in finding them in the large mass of people, but they scoured the boat in an attempt to find them. Meilin had been complaining about her hunger pains, but Li insisted on looking for them. And they hadn't seen as much as a hair from Brock or Tristan. Li sighed, slightly frustrated. "I don't see them anywhere, but they have to be around here somewhere."  
  
"It's nearly impossible to find them in this crowd of people, and don't forget about the large, complex ship. They could be anywhere," said Meilin. They walked into the entrance of the food courts. Scents of delicious food filled the air, which made Meilin and Li grabbed their stomachs.  
  
"Boy, that smells really good, doesn't it?" Li spoke, and Meilin nodded.  
  
"Yep. I'm getting hungry, Li. Perhaps we could grab a bite to eat, then start trying to find Brock and Tristan later."  
  
"Well, okay. I just want to see the look on their faces when their eyes rests on us. It's been over four years, Meilin. I can't even begin to fathom the shock that's going to flood on their faces."  
  
"I can't wait to see them, either, but my stomach pains are killing me, Li. Let's eat!" Meilin begged.  
  
Li gave in to her whining, and they began to debate about what they was going to consume. Out of the corner of his eye, Li spotted Tristan receiving some pizzas from a restaurant. Li's eyes popped open as he grabbed Meilin and turned her in the direction of Tristan. Meilin's eyes also bucked, then they ran down toward the pizza shop. Tristan put the pizzas into a bag and started walking away.  
  
"Surprise, Tristan!!" they shouted and grabbed his attention. Tristan spun around and his eyes rested on the two teenagers. His eyes also widened as shock flooded onto his face, just as Li predicted.  
  
"Li? Meilin?!" he sat the pizzas down and threw his arms around them. Li and Meilin hugged Tristan tightly and the three stood there squeezing each other. After ten seconds, they stopped hugging and Tristan spoke. "Whoa, I cannot believe it! After all these years! I didn't know you were entering the tournament!" he exclaimed in complete surprise and happiness.  
  
"Yeah, I figured you were gonna be in this thing," Li responded. "It's been so long, how are you, man?!"  
  
"I'm great, never been better!" Tristan answered and laughed. "What's been going on with you two?!"  
  
"Me and Li are dating for one," Meilin chimed, and Tristan's mouth dropped.  
  
"Really?! You're kidding, right? You two are involved?! (they nod) For how long?!"  
  
"Almost three years! It'll be three in August," Meilin told him.  
  
"Well, well, I never expected that."  
  
Meilin then noticed his built body. "Hmm... well, look at whose been maturing over the years! You've got muscles everywhere! Remeber when you used to say building muscles was a waste of time? Whatever happened to that philosiphy?"  
  
"It died over the years," Tristan replied.  
  
"Oh. Well, I like them. Muscles suit your image. (glances over at Li) Too bad I can't say the same about Li Showron, here. He's sticking with the puny look," she said and poked his side.  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
Tristan chuckled at the two. "Anyway, you two sure have grown since the last time I saw you. Meilin, my.. my, you've turned out to be quite the hot girl. And you Li, well... you really just look like the Li we all used to know and love. A little bit older, but basically the same, little boy."  
  
"Okay, okay, stop picking on me! First Meilin, and now you! There's nothing wrong with the way I look. I'm not puny, and I have grown and matured a lot. I don't just look like the 'same old Li', either. Why do you think that?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know, the lack of muscles may have something to do with that," Tristan responded and giggled. Li rolled his eyes. "I bet Brock didn't waste any time lifting heavy weights and sweat profusely."  
  
"On the contrary," Tristan began. "Brock has become quite the muscle man. Being skinny wasn't gonna help him become a 'lady's man', as he put it. The girls at school love him," he told Li, and Li scoffed. "And they love me too, by the way," he added.  
  
"Hey, Tristan? Where's Brock? Is he here with you?" asked Meilin.  
  
"Oh, he's over at a table waiting for me to come back with the pizzas..."  
  
"Tristan, what's taking you so..." Brock happened to walk up on them. He stopped in his tracks and gasped, shock flooding onto his face. "Meilin?! Li?! You're here?! Oh, it's so wonderful to see you two again!" he said and hugged them both.  
  
"He is built..." Li began to feel a little left out in the 'muscle' category.  
  
"What's up, my man?!" Brock slapped hands with Li while asking him.  
  
"Nothing much, except that me and Meilin are lovers now," Li announced to him, and of course, Brock was shocked.  
  
"I can't believe it! For real?!" he exclaimed, and they nodded in response. "This ain't no joke, right?" They shook their heads in response. "Oh, that's so good! I knew you two were gonna start liking each other; I could see it when we were younger," he said.  
  
"Hey, how about we go over a table and enjoy of fine meal of pizza?" Tristan suggested, and everyone agreed. They all headed over to the tables, talking and laughing along the way.  
  
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Meanwhile, on the private cruise ship for specially selected duelists only, Ash stood on the balcony looking down at the constantly moving ocean. He was getting closer and closer to Emerald Island, which was the first stop in his mission of killing Pegasus. Once he won 15 stars there, he would be qualified to enter the Crystal Kingdom playoffs, and he was determined to either work his way through the opponents until he reached Pegasus, or to find the hidden palace and challenge Pegasus directly. Whatever he planned to do, Ash wasn't going to leave the island until Pegasus was dead. He decided to look through his deck to make sure it was in optimum perfection for the championship. While flipping through the cards, he ran across one called Hyozanryu (Dragon of Diamonds). He didn't like to see this card, because it was Delia's favorite monster out of all the ones in the deck she used to own. Seeing Hyozanryu further fueled his hatred for Pegasus, because Pegasus took his mother's life, someone that Ash loved with all his heart.  
  
(Flashback 1)  
  
The year was 2031. Ash was in the living room of the house dueling against his mother. Delia was trying to teach him how to play the game. They were having an 'old school' duel because Kaiba Corp. had yet to complete the first virtual arena. She was currently dominating the match, but Ash wouldn't go down without a fight. He slapped down a Curse of Dragon card, which was stronger than the Barrel Dragon she had in play. Barrel Dragon had been ensnared by the Spellbinding Circle, which brought its attack power down to 1900.  
  
"And my move takes your life points down to 1600, mother. I feel a comeback in the works," he said.  
  
Delia smiled, then drew a card from her deck and put it down onto the dueling mat. "Hyozanryu, with an attack power of 2100, takes down your Curse of Dragon."  
  
Ash's Life Points- 600  
  
"I give up, mom. I don't think I can beat you," Ash announced, and Delia laughed playfully.  
  
"No, Ash, don't tell me you're giving up already. The duel could still be won."  
  
"Nah, I'd rather just admit defeat and start over fresh," he told her. Delia agreed to this and reshuffled her deck. Ash reshuffled his and they began to duel again.  
  
(Flashback 2)  
  
"Sayanora, Delia," he said and pushed a button on a remote control and a force field formed around her. Then, 10,000 volts of electricity erupting on the chains, and shocked Delia severely. She screamed in pain.  
  
"MOTHER!!!!" Ash yelled, but he could do nothing to help her. He stared with his eyes bucked opened and watched as his mother slipped away. Before she passed on she gave him one last, heartwarming smile, then her eyes closed and she passed on.  
  
"Mother..." Ash's eyes began filling with tears as her lifeless body was only held up by the chains. "NO!!!!!" Ash screamed in pain. Tears began to rain down his face.  
  
(End Flashbacks)  
  
A small tear ran down Ash's face and dripped onto the card. Why did Pegasus have to kill her? Why couldn't he spare her? Why did he have to take such an innocent life? Delia had never done anything to him. Ash wiped the tear stain off his face and put the deck away. He walked into his suite and sat down on the bed. He missed his mother, and Ash was bent on making Pegasus pay for the murder. Without warning, the boat began to rock back and forth. It was gentle at first, but as seconds passed it grew more violent. Ash quickly darted outside. Although the sun was high in the sky, the ocean waters were shifting and surging quite violently, like a storm was there. Ash was in complete confusement as the waters tossed the boat around. The shaking made Ash lose his footing and he fell on the floor. Getting back up, another wave plastered against the ship. As the ship rocked, Ash began to realize how this was happening. It wasn't any storm in sight, yet the ocean waters were raucous. It had to be him doing it. Those mysterious powers must've kicked in again. Another wave hit the ship, and it was more violent than the last. The tipping of the boat made Ash fall to the floor and slide into the bedroom of the suite. Another wave ravaged the ship from the other side, causing the boat to tilt to the left, making Ash slide out onto the balcony. He quickly used the railing to regain his footing, then tried to concentrate on controlling the storm. Apparently, his powers were somewhat tied into his emotions, because whenever Ash began to get angry, something weird happened. Ash closed his eyes and continued his attempt to get rid of the raging waters. When he opened his eyes back up to see if any progress was being made, a huge tidal wave had formed and was charging relentlessly toward the cruise ship. Ash gasped in the surprise and closed his eyes, trying as hard as he could to control the powers within. He could hear the deep rumble of tidal wave getting ever closer to the ship, and that made him concentrate even harder. Ash opened his eyes to find the tidal wave still charging for the ship. He frowned and tried cooling himself down by forgetting about what happened. He began to think about pleasant thoughts, like the times he spent with Delia at the park, and others. The tsunami finally began to fizzle out as it began shrinking down into the ocean below. Ash sighed in relief as the tidal wave dissappeared and he waters returned back to normal. His power were beginning to become a problem. He had to find out how to control them, and soon.  
  
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Evening time had settled in now. In honor and appreciation of the duelists and guests who tagged along with them, a special pool party was being held on the upper patio decks outside (this is the 'regular' cruise ship, by the way). Everyone on the ship had been invited to the shindig. People were diving into large pools, others were soaking in hot tubs, some people were playing party games, some people hit the dance floor, but one thing was for sure, there was a lot of commotion was going on. Meilin, Tristan, Li and Brock were all soaking in a warm jacuzzi, laughing and talking about stuff. Meilin was wearing a two-piece pink swimsuit, and she had put some aster flowers into her hair. Tristan sported some red and black swimtrunks. Brock had on some green swimtrunks with gold linings on them, and wore some gold chains around his neck to match the trunks. Li decided to wear some blue trunks. They were all playing truth or dare.  
  
"It's Brock's turn now. Brock, truth or dare?" spoke Tristan.  
  
"Um, I don't really wanna play this," Brock said, and everyone started laughing.  
  
"Brock! Don't be a scaredy-cat! Now, truth or dare?" Tristan asked him again.  
  
Brock sighed heavily and replied, "Truth."  
  
"Okay," Tristan cleared his throat and continued. "Brock, is it true that your trunks fell down while you were on stage preparing to play a water polo match?"  
  
Brock began to blush as Meilin and Li started laughing uncontrollably. "Tristan, why did you bring that up?! Couldn't you ask me something else?!" he yelled, and Tristan also started laughing.  
  
"How did that happen?!" Li almost couldn't finish asking the question due to the fact that he was laughing so hard. Brock shook his head and put his hands over his face in embarrassment.  
  
"Tell me the whole story," Meilin demanded while giggling.  
  
"I refuse to say anything. As a matter of a fact, I'm through playing this game," he quipped. His hands were still covering his face.  
  
"C'mon, Brock, don't be a spoilsport!" Tristan said, then reached over and tapped Brock's arm. "Tell Meilin and Li exactly how it happened."  
  
"I said I'm not saying anything. They know it happened, and that's enough as it is," Brock told him, and his hands still covered his face. "Hey, I got an idea. Let's go hit the dance floor!"  
  
"But I thought you were having fun playing this game," Li teased. "As long as you were making people do hideous things in this hot tub you were having the time of your life. Now it's your turn, and you're chickening."  
  
"I'm not chickening! I just think it's time to do something else now, like dance. I'm getting tired of sitting in this hot tub, and I'm getting tired of playing this game. Enough is enough," Brock said while taking his hands off his face.  
  
"Yeah, whatever," Meilin chimed.  
  
"Don't any of you wanna get down to the jams?" Brock suggested. The other three eventually nodded and started climbing out of the hot tub. After getting down, they grabbed some nearby drying towels and dried themselves off, then headed down to the dance floor. Brock and Tristan started dancing by themselves, but Li and Meilin paired up./ Joey (who was wearing some yellow swimtrunks) and Misty (who was wearing a pearl, once-piece bathing suit) had just took a dip in the swimming pool, and now they were playing with a pinball machine. They were competing against each other to see who could score more points. Joey was currently at 2 million points.  
  
"You're pretty good at this," Misty complimented. Joey pulled the small levers on the machine furiously as he attempted to keep the silver ball in the playing field, and at the same time, he racked up points by collecting powerups and other things. Eventually the ball slipped out of the field. Since it was Joey's last turn, his game was over.  
  
"Ah, man! Well, at least I scored high. 2,311,390 points; let's see you outdue that," he challenged her. He stepped out of the way and allowed Misty to take his previous position. She cranked up the machine and starting bouncing the ball off walls, snagging powerups, and scoring bonuses. The points began to add up rather quickly. She started out with 0, but was now at 304,723 and hadn't been playing for a minute. Joey began to worry as she continued playing. Yugi (dressed in silver and black swimtrunks) strolled up next to Joey.  
  
"Hey, what are you two doing?" he wondered.  
  
"Me and Misty are competing against each other to see who can score the most points with their turns."  
  
"Oh. Can I play, too? Or is it just a.. you vs. her, thing?" Yugi asked.  
  
"No, no, of course you can play with us, man."After Misty finished her three turns, she came out with a score of 5,678,903. Joey's mouth dropped in surprise. "No way! Tell me you didn't just whup my high score!"  
  
"I just did," she giggled in delight, and Joey frowned.  
  
"Well, let me see if I can beat your score," Yugi said. Misty stepped out of the way and let Yugi take his place in front of the machine. He started it up and began playing the game. Misty watched closely, hoping that he couldn't out-score her score. As time went on, Yugi's score kept increasing and increasing. After he lost his first turn, his score was at 1,315,024 points.  
  
"He might actually beat me, Joey. I didn't score that high in my first turn," Misty whispered into Joey's ear.  
  
"Yeah, but you kicked some major butt in your last two turns, though. You even got a jackpot," Joey said back to her, and she shrugged.  
  
"Well, we'll see," she muttered. Yugi pushed on the levers and managed to keep the ball in the playing field. He grabbed a powerup which multipled the points earned by 3. Then, he managed to hit the jackpot. His score was now at 4,794,813. He chuckled as he continued playing the frenzied pinball game, being careful not to lose. Yugi wanted to get as much as he could out of his turns.  
  
"Um, Misty, I think Yugi just might've beat you," Joey whispered.  
  
"It's not over yet, he still hasn't scored 5.6 million points, yet," she whispered back and they continued watching. By the time Yugi had lost all his turns, his total score was 9,773,839.  
  
"Whoa, Yugi! I've never seen anyone score that high on this game before!" Joey exclaimed. Yugi laughed and turned to Misty.  
  
"Well, looks like you've been beat."  
  
"I thought Joey was good. Compared to you, he sucks," Misty said.  
  
"Hey, be nice!"  
  
"Congratulation," she told Yugi and he smiled. "I'm gonna go grab a drink, you guys want anything?" offered Misty. The two boys told Misty to get them some sodas, and she walked off to get them. She approached the drinks counter and asked the bartender for two sodas and a mocha. While she waited on the drinks, Ronnie was off in the distance watching her... /Sakura (wearing a baby blue srong and white top) waltzed her way across the deck, heading toward the dance floor. Although she was ready to get to the Crystal Kingdom to find her lover, she wasn't going to deny herself any fun. As she walked along, she accidentally bumped into someone and knocked a soda out of his hands.  
  
"Oops, sorry," she spoke hastily.  
  
"No, it's allright. You didn't do anything," the person (Li) replied, then bent over to pick up his soda. However, Sakura beat him to it. She picked it up and handed it to him. "I'm really sorry I spilled your soda. Can I get you another one?" she offered.  
  
Li chuckled and answered, "No, you don't have to get me another soda. And it's nothing to be sorry about, accidents happen."  
  
"I know, and I'm gonna get you another soda anyway," she said and walked off toward the counter. Li decided to follow her. "If I had just been watching where I was going this wouldn't have happened."  
  
"I told you, it's totally okay." Sakura walked up to the counter and asked the bartender for another soda just like the one Li had. The bartender walked off to get it, and she sat down in a barstool beside the counter. Li took a seat in another one.  
  
"So, are you a participant in the tournament? Or are you just coming along as a spectator or something?" she asked him.  
  
"I'm a participant," Li replied.  
  
"Really? Is this your first time competing in the contest or have you been in one before?"  
  
"I'm a first-timer. What about you, are you a contestant?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. I'm also a first-timer. I just started playing Duel Monsters a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm getting pretty good it."  
  
"No, no, if you've just starting playing, I recommend you just throw in the towel. There's gonna be tons of duelists here with skills beyond anything you muster. You're a newbie.. uh, whatever your name is, and I don't think you're gonna be able to handle it," Li spoke.  
  
"Hey, I believe I know more about Duel Monsters than you're giving me credit for, Mister..." her voice trailed off.  
  
"Li. Li Showron, what's your name?"  
  
"Sakura Avalon," she replied, and Li grinned.  
  
"I like your name; it has a somewhat, I don't know.. elegant sound to it."  
  
"Thank you." Sakura was about to speak again when the bartender returned to give her the soda. He held out the soda and she took it in her grasp. "Thank you, sir," she spoke softly and handed the drink to Li. "Back to the topic. I know a lot about Duel Monsters, and it's quite possible that I could kick your butt right now."  
  
"You think so? Okay, then, to prove your claim tell me this. What's the strongest card in all of Duel Monsters?" Li inquired, and Sakura began to stammer.  
  
"Uh, um... I think it's... no, that's not it. Um..."  
  
"It's Exodia!" Li told her, and she began grinning sheepishly.  
  
"Oh, yeah! I knew that; I just wanted to see if you knew it, too."  
  
Li glanced at a watch on his arm and stood up. "Uh, I've gotta run. My friends are waiting on me. We're about to have a little chess competition between the four of us. Then afterwards, we're gonna play Blackjack," he said.  
  
"Oh, allright. It was nice meeting you, Li."  
  
"Same here, Sakura, and I hope we run into each other again sometime," he waved to Sakura and ran off to meet up with Brock, Meilin and Tristan. Sakura got up and started walking toward the dance floor, her intended destination before she bumped into Li. /Mai Valentine strutted across the deck wearing a very revealing two-piece violet swimsuit. She received a lot of looks from male passerbys. She grinned at the attention and approached a jacuzzi. She stepped into it and sighed, letting the warm flow of bubbles sooth her body.  
  
"Ohh... there's nothing like a good soak in a jacuzzi to help you relax," she murmered to herself. As she relaxed in there, another person of male gender stepped over into the jacuzzi and sat down beside her. This took her by surprise at first, but she calmed down in realization of who it was.  
  
"I've been looking all over for you," the man spoke. Mai rolled her eyes and sighed.  
  
"Tori (Sakura Avalon's older brother who was dressed in blue and orange swimtrunks), do you have to follow me everywhere I go? You're acting a puppy dog, or something. You know, I can take care of myself," she said.  
  
"I know that. I still need to talk to you, though," he responded to her and took a sip out of his plastic pouch filled with fruit punch.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I just wanted to tell you that you're handling your undercover mission great, especially for your first time. You haven't alerted Pegasus to your presence. (slight pause in speech) You're turning out to be quite the secret agent," he commented.  
  
"Well, thanks for the compliment, but I know all this already. I still wish you had taken the task of dueling in the tournament instead of me. I don't duel well under pressure, or in front of crowds," she quipped.  
  
"Oh, c'mon. You've been in many dangerous missions before, you've chased down criminal masterminds, you've even faced down death before, and you're telling me that you can't duel with wagers, or in front of an audience? You've gotta be kidding me," Tori began to giggle and Mai poked him in the side.  
  
"Stop that! It's just... I get tense. I get afraid that I'm going to embarrass myself. This is my first time competing in the tournament, you know? I'm gonna be nervous."  
  
"I'm sure after you win a few duels you'll get some confidence. And here I am thinking with all that pride of yours, that nervousness and the fear of losing would be obsolete feelings, but I guess I was wrong," he shrugged. "And you know that I don't know a thing about Duel Monsters, which was why you were ordered to compete. Now, don't forget, keep calm and stay cool, no matter what. When we get to Emerald Island, security is bound to be everywhere, so don't mutter anything about your mission. When you need to talk to me, use our special Neural Transmitters (a device installed into the mind of a person. It allows them to communicate telepathically with another person who's equipped with it). Understood?"  
  
"Completely, now go away. I need to relax and think," Mai ordered. Tori scoffed and climbed out of the jacuzzi, leaving her in there by herself. He walked off to the pool to take a swim. Mai kicked her legs on top of each other and sighed. So far, the mission was going smoothly. She just hoped it stayed that way.  
  
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Downstairs in one of the suites sat a lonely Jasmine Cortez (on a couch). She decided not to attend in the festivities because she didn't feel like it. What she wanted was Morty in her arms. Jasmine never knew how much she would miss Morty if she never saw him, mainly because they were always together. They often spent nights at each other's house; they hung together all the time. Ever since they fell in love with each other, they had never went longer than a day without seeing one another. Although it had only been three days, Jasmine felt as if she hadn't seen or heard from Morty in three years, or maybe even three decades. Whitney came through the door and asked Jasmine to come to the deck and have a little fun, but Jasmine rejected the offer. She knew she wasn't going to have any fun, not while Morty was missing. Now if Morty was on the upper deck partying, it'd be a different story. Whitney tried to get Jasmine off the couch but she couldn't remotely convince her. After she gave up and left, Jasmine began to cry softly as she curled up on the couch. What if she never saw Morty again? He had been gone for three days, which was more than enough time for Pegasus to steal the key from him, and she still hadn't heard from him. What if Pegasus killed Morty after he stole the Millenium Key? Jasmine continued to weep softly on the couch. There shouldn't be anything stopping Pegasus from getting the key...  
  
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"So why I don't I have it yet?!!" Pegasus screamed at Kemo. They were inside Pegasus's lavish office discussing the dilemma regarding Morty's Millenium Key.  
  
"Master, it won't come off," Kemo spoke. "We've been trying everything: pulling it off, shooting it off with a Plasma Blaster, sucking it off into a vacuum, everything! But the blasted key refuse to come off his neck."  
  
Pegasus sighed heavily and stood from his chair. "Perhaps if we can't pull it off ourselves, someone else can pull it off for us."  
  
"What are you saying, Master?" Kemo was puzzled. Pegasus flicked his hair out of his eyesight and approached Kemo.  
  
"Take me to him," he ordered and Kemo bowed in obedience. He instructed Pegasus to follow him and began leading Pegasus down to the underground dungeon complex. Walking up to a teleporter pad, Kemo entered in the coordinates D3- SE12-B (Dungeon Level 3, Section 12 B.) Then, he and Pegasus stepped onto the tile. The tile activated and tranported them down into the aforementioned coordinates. Kemo and Pegasus strolled through numerous hallways until they reached Morty's cell. He was chained up onto the wall, and a special force field was put in place just in case Morty found a way to free himself from the chains. There wasn't any door.  
  
"Lower the force field," Pegasus spoke, and Kemo walked over to a small touchscreen panel right next to the cell. He pushed a few buttons and the force field deactivated, allowing Pegasus to enter the cell. Pegasus did just that; he approached Morty and smirked. "Hello, there," he greeted.  
  
Morty wasn't hardly in the mood for small talk. He had been deprived of food and water, and hadn't gotten much sleep. He slowly looked up at Pegasus and glared at him. "What do you want?"  
  
"Hmm... not much for small talk, are we?" he said in his traditional type of speaking. "C'mon, Morty, don't be a anti-socialable type of man, okay? How are you?"  
  
"What do you think?! I'm certainly not fine! I'm locked up in a cell, I've been deprived of food and water, for Pete's sake I can't even piss because I'm stuck on a wall! I am not fine," Morty spoke in an angry tone of voice. "Release me, at once."  
  
"Ooh!" Pegasus quipped sarcastically. "We have a feisty one, don't we?" Pegasus asked while walking closer to Morty. "I don't think you're in any kind of position to be giving out orders around here, so shut your gob."  
  
"Or what, you'll hit me? Oh, that's scary. I'm trembling before your sight, I'm shaking before the sound of your voice. If that's all you've got, I feel for you," Morty said and chuckled weakly.  
  
"Trust me, after I get through with you, you won't be laughing," Pegasus stated sinsterly. "But, I'm not gonna resort to violence just yet. It's not too late to talk. We can still settle this in an reasonable fashion. My guard has told me that all attempts to take that Millenium Key of yours off your neck has failed. So, instead of trying to take it by force, I'll cut a deal with you. If you want to get released, all you have to do is give me your Millenium Key. If you don't give me the key, I'll be force to act upon you in a painful manner," Pegasus smirked evily.  
  
"I'm not gonna give you anything. This Millenium Key has been passed down through my family for generations, and I'm not about to let you destroy our tradition and take our heritage," Morty announced boldly.  
  
"Brilliantly spoken," Pegasus complimented, then turned serious. "But that kind of attitude is not going to get you out of here, or in my good graces."  
  
"Who ever said I wanted to be in your 'good graces', you dick?" Morty retorted, and for that he was punched in the mouth.  
  
"Shut your trap." Pegasus began to untie Morty's tennis shoes.  
  
"What are you doing?" Morty wondered as Pegasus finished untying them and took them off. He pulled off Morty's socks and tossed them aside. Afterwards, he ripped open Morty's shirt and snatched off his pants, leaving his silk green boxers as the only article of clothing on Morty's body. "What are you about to do, have a stripping contest with me or something?"  
  
"No, no, no, not at all. I think it's time you get taught a lesson and put back in your place. Kemo, bring me the grease!" Pegasus snapped, and Kemo rushed inside the cell holding a pot. Pegasus took the pot from Kemo and poured some hot cooking grease onto Morty's bare feet.  
  
"AHH!!!!" Morty screeched at the top of his lungs, and Pegasus began to laugh maniacally.  
  
"It's quite amazing how much a simple organ like the Larynx can bring your body so much pain, eh? And this is only the beginning! Believe me, pretty boy, there's hard times ahead," he chimed and poured the remaining amount of the grease onto Morty's bare chest.  
  
"AHHH!!!!!" his ear-piecing scream echoed throughout the walls of the dungeon...  
  
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Well, that's it! Again, I say this. I'm so, so sorry for the long wait. I intended to update much earlier, but my modem broke down and since my father got laid off, we couldn' afford to buy another one But, he got a new job, and now we're starting to get back on our feet. I really hope these two episodes were good, especially since I wasn't able to update sooner. I apologize again for the long wait, and I hope I won't have to deal with that anymore. Well, next time, the cruise ships finally reach Emerald Island and the tournament finally kicks off to the start. Don't miss Episode 08, 'Let The Duels Begin'! Bye! (Oh, and if you have any questions, you'll have to post them in a review and I'll answer them in the next update. I'm now using Charter Pipeline and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to e-mail or IM) 


	8. Episode 08, 'Let The Duels Commence'

Okay, I'm back with a brand-new episode of my series! Once again, I apologize for that long interruption. I don't have much to say this time around, other than enjoy the show!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 08, 'Let The Duels Commence' (1/27/2003)  
  
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Two days had now passed by. Everyone (except Ash and Jasmine) had been relaxing and enjoying their stay on the luxurious cruise ships. But the ride was finally over, and the ships had taken their place at the docking ports. It was 0900 hours (9:00 am) as guards helped guide the passengers off the boat and onto the island. As Joey, Yugi and Misty stepped down the descending stairs, Joey's mouth dropped open.  
  
"Hey, why the heck did we come out to a empty island to duel for?! I thought we were gonna stay on the boat for sure!"  
  
"Pegasus said that we were gonna duel out here in the interview, but I don't know why," Misty chimed in response to Joey's question. "I hope you two packed a tint to sleep in."  
  
"But me and Joey didn't pack anything like that. Just some clothes, our toothbrushes, that sorta thing," Yugi said, then shrugged. "We'll figure something out. And about the whole 'dueling on this island' thing, well, maybe we'll find out."  
  
Guards continued to usher the duelists and guests off the ship, guiding them toward the shoreline of Emerald Island. On the shore stood two men with a large stack of boxes behind them. Tristan was curious as to what was inside the boxes, but he didn't dare approach them. Once everyone had been escorted off the boat and onto the shore, one of the men began to speak. "Hey, listen up everybody, especially duelists, because we've got some news for you which you would wanna hear!"  
  
Everyone paused and watched as the other man started to speak. "Guess what? The brand new, Portable Holo-Duel Simulator Systems from Kaibacorp. has just been released for duelists everywhere!" he announced, which drew a lot of gasps from the crowd. "These babies boast many enhancements over the Virtual Holochip Dueling Consoles we've all come to know and love! First off, they're portable, meaning they are easier to transfer, and you can now have duels in your house, too! Never again shall you have to go outside to have Holo-duels. Now, you can have them in your own bedroom! Of course, you'll have to engage the new mode installed onto the systems, which shrinks the sizes of the monsters to suffiently fit inside a house without eclipsing outside."  
  
The crowd of duelists were too astonished to say anything. "Secondly, these new systems possess huge graphical enhancements over the Holochip consoles and the monsters look and act more realistic than ever before! Kaibacorp. has put in a lot of hard work to make sure duelists from all over the world are not dissappointed. Next, the integration of 'fields' places brand new strategies and tricks at duelists' fingertips!" the man continued, and lots of duelists were aweing and gossiping about the new systems.  
  
"Wow, Kaibacorp. never fails to please," chirped Meilin.  
  
"For example: if you play a water-type card on a field with a large mass of water, that monster gets a field power bonus which can be used to your tactical advantage. Another thing is that you can use the battlefield around you to your advantange as well. Example: if there is water all on the field, and you play a monster with electrical capabilities, then it gets a field power bonus, and if the opposing monster is hiding in something, like a Labyrinth Wall, then the water can guide the electrical attack straight to the monster and obliterate it!"  
  
"Hey!" shouted Joey to the man. "What the use in telling us this? We're still gonna use Holochip systems anyway, right?!"  
  
"On the contrary," the other man said, then opened a box and pulled out a black, metallic device. The device was shaped like a rounded rectangle, and a small gap near the bottom of it allowed a person to slip it onto their wrist. There was ten card slots mounted on top of the rectangle arranged in two, horizontal rows. Three small holo-emitters tubes were installed right in front of the card slots. Two small shelves extended from under card slots two and four. These were the graveyard pile and deck keeper slots. Two small bars strapped around the arm of the man. This was the life point and the attack and defense point meters, which served their respectful purpose of telling the attack and defense points of the current monster(s), and the life points of the current duelist(s). The other man also strapped a white Holo-duel simulator onto his arm, then they both walked a good distance away from each other. After getting themselves set, they turned back around to face each other.  
  
"Holo-duel systems, power up!" they both shouted, and the holo-emitters on the machines turned on. Red, yellow, and green lights flickered through the systems, indicating that it was powered. The men inserted their decks into the deck keeper slots and held up their arms.  
  
"This looks pretty cool," murmered Surge, who was standing as far away from Tristan as possible without looking suspicious.  
  
"Duel!" the men yelled, and suddenly a beautiful field grid appeared on the land in front of them. They were color coordinated with the systems, which meant that the first man's grid was composed of black lines, while the second man's grid was made of white lines. Their life points set to 2000, and the first man drew five cards from the deck, forming his hand.  
  
"Allow me to give you duelists a demonstration of the graphics these small systems can muster. Reaper of The Cards, in attack mode!" he slapped down his first card onto a slot (3). A gorgeous, holographic version of the card first appeared in the slot, then white lights began rising into the air, thus loading a immensely realistic, holographic version of the aforementioned monster which put the Holochips consoles to shame. It snarled and the crowd gasped in amazement. "Behold the new generation of dueling!"  
  
ATK: 1380 DEF: 1930  
  
"Whoa! The Reaper of The Cards has never looked so real!" Brock exclaimed in sheer astonishment. Everyone else were also amazed at the details and realism projected into the monster. The other man formed his hand, then took two cards from it and placed it onto a slot.  
  
"I counter with Flame Swordsman, in attack mode! And I'll place one extra card face-down." A holographic face-down card loaded into the slot to intimidate the opposing duelist, then the Flame Swordsman's holocard appeared and the monster jumped out of it, taking a fighting stance. Everyone was still amazed at the beautiful graphics.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500  
  
"Allright, Flame Swordsman, attack the Reaper of The Cards, now!" the man commanded. The Flame Swordsman sword was engulfed by flames eminating from it, then it charged straight at the reaper. Everyone looked on as Flame Swordsman sliced Reaper of The Cards with its fireblade, thus shattering the monster.  
  
First Man's Life Points- 1580  
  
Some large, black holo-numbers even displayed after the destruction of the monster, to allow everyone easy viewing and tracking of the life points bin. "Holo-duel systems, power down!" the two men stated, then the various holograms dissappeared. The machines powered down and they unstrapped them from their arms.  
  
"This is what you'll be using for the duration of the tournament, and afterwards," stated the first man. "Since we're so grateful for your attendance, Maximillion Pegasus had allowed all participants to get one of these systems free of charge. Oh, and as a personal bonus, Kaiba Corporation has even included tons of different colors for your personal specifications. Come and get them in an orderly fashion," he announced. All the excited duelists approached the boxes to get their own Portable Holo- Duel Simulator System. Within moments, every duelist on the island had picked one up. There were still plenty of them left, because Pegasus wanted to make sure each and every duelist got the color they wanted.  
  
"Now, in 30 minutes," the second man spoke up, "the duels shall begin. Use this time to shape and refine your deck to the perfect configuration. When the sky light up with fireworks in the form of Pegasus, the sub-competition shall be underway. Maximillion Pegasus also bids good luck to all the duelists who are present," he finished and walked off with his acquaintence. All the duelists began scrambling about to make sure their decks were perfect.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Misty had separated herself from Yugi and Joey, and was now heading out to find a quiet meadow to set up her camp, which was to be her home for the next several weeks. She knew she had no time to play around. Her sisters and John were depending on her to win the prize money and get Yelola's cooperation. With the stakes of their lives in her hands, Misty knew she had no room for error. As she continued walking along, she had no idea she was being spied on by Ronnie. He eyed her carefully and glanced at her butt often. After walking for a little while, Misty stumbled upon a nice, quiet meadow and looked around. A small hot spring was naturally built into the ground, and Misty's face lit up.  
  
"This is the perfect spot for me to camp," Misty said to herself and accessed her device. She transported her folded tint out of it. Then, she pressed a button on the tint, which made it automatically began constructing itself into a tint. After a few seconds, it was complete. Misty was about to crawl inside when a voice stopped her.  
  
"This is a nice little camp you've got going here, girl," the voice, belonging to a young woman, spoke. Misty turned around, slightly startled.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so," she answered while standing up. "Who are you?"  
  
"Please, don't be so alarmed; I come in peace," the blonde chick told her, then strolled over to one of the sturdy rocks next to the hot spring and took a seat. "You seem like a pretty nice girl. What's your name?"  
  
"Why don't you tell me your name first? After all, you're the one who stumbled into my little camp."  
  
"Allright, then. My name is Mai Valentine," she stated.  
  
"Misty Chase, nice to meet you," Misty said and extended her hand for Mai to shake. She did so, then they returned their hands to their side. "So, I take it you're a contestant in the tournament, right?" wondered Misty.  
  
Mai nodded. "Yep. This is my first time ever competiting in one, though. I'm kinda nervous."  
  
"Nervous? From my general impression of you, I'd think you weren't the nervous type," Misty quipped and Mai chuckled.  
  
"Looks can be deceiving. Are you in the tournament?"  
  
"Mm-hmm. I'm going for the gold," she told her.  
  
Mai got off the rock and started to walk away. "I guess we'll meet up again sometime later, hmm?"  
  
"I'm sure we will."  
  
Something caught Mai's eye. She turned around and stared at Misty's shoes, then gasped. "Wow! Are those Prodda shoes you're wearing?!"  
  
"Oh, yeah," Misty replied.  
  
"I've been looking all over the place for those shoes! Where'd you find them at?"  
  
"At this little store called 'Woman's Source.' It's around my neighborhood."  
  
"Really? I'll have to go down there myself one of these days," Mai said and walked back toward Misty. "Don't Prodda make the most gorgeous fashions..."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Brock walked through the immense island, also looking for a place to set up camp. Tristan decided to split in order to find some delicious fruits for his enjoyment. Since the new duel systems introduced field types into dueling, Brock was attempting to locate a lake so his thunder-based cards would get a field power bonus when played. But so far, he hadn't had any luck in finding one. As Brock started walking up a pretty steep hill, he began thinking about the tournament. How strong would the competitors be? Was he ready to face them? Did he have the skills to win the tournament and claim the prize money for his father? Brock believed that he could win the tournament, but he knew it wasn't going to be an easy task, especially when the main contest started. By then, all the weaker duelists would be eliminated, and there would be nothing but strong, defiant duelists left. Would he be able to handle them? Brock may be the champion of his neighborhood, but he hadn't ever faced off with duelists of the elite. Brock finally reached the end of the hill, and below him was a valley with a huge lake in the center. This was the perfect spot he was looking for! Brock darted downhill and headed straight for the lake. Once he got there, he immediately accessed his Subspace Computer Terminal and began transporting his tint, along with other things, out of it. After setting up his campsite, he began heading back toward the docks. He had told Tristan that once he found a campsite, he was going to meet him there so he could lead Tristan to it.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
The thirty minutes finally passed by, and the sky suddenly lit up with fireworks shaped like the Duel Monsters creator, Maximillion Pegasus. The fireworks signified the beginning of the tournament, and duelists started challenging one another for stars. Joey and Yugi walked along the shore in search of Misty. "I know I saw her run off in this direction," said Joey.  
  
"Are you sure? We haven't seen any sign of her yet. I hope you don't think something's happening to her, because I'm pretty sure Misty can take care of herself."  
  
"No, it's not that, Yugi. I'm just trying to find out where she set up her camp," Joey responded, then sighed. "Ah, it's no use. I don't see any kind of tint anywhere. I really wish I knew where to find her because I wanted to see if she would trade one of her cards with me."  
  
"What card are you planning on trading, Joey?" Yugi inquired.  
  
"Oh, this trap card called 'Kunai With Chain'. I can't seem to figure out how to make it work."  
  
"'Kunai With Chain'? Don't get rid of that, Joey. That card can be used in conjunction with a card such as 'Axe Raider' to trap your opponent's monster," Yugi explained to him.  
  
"Oh, I see," Joey mused and stared at the card. "How exactly does it work?"  
  
"If you use it with Axe Raider, it'll wield a special chain which can be used to ensnare an attacking monster and drain its attack strength. Oh, before I forget, I wanna give you something," Yugi said, then began accessing his terminal.  
  
"What'cha doin', Yuge?" Joey wondered as Yugi retrieved his deck of cards. He searched through them until he found the card he was looking for, then pulled it out of the deck and handed it to Joey. "What's this? The Summoned Skull? Why are you showing me this, Yugi?"  
  
"Because, I'm giving it to you," Yugi announced.  
  
Joey's jaw dropped open. "Yugi... that's really nice and all, but I can't take your card. This is your Summoned Skull, and I know it's among your top five favorite cards of all-time. Why are you trying to give it to me?"  
  
"I want you to have it. If you fuse that card together with your Red Eyes Black Dragon, you'll obtain a really strong card called the Supreme Black Skull Dragon. Go ahead and take the card, Joey. You deserve it."  
  
"No, I don't. I don't deserve anything, especially one of your most treasured cards. Here, take it back," Joey said and attempted to give back the card, but little Yugi refused to accept it. "What's the matter? Why won't you take the card?"  
  
"I told you, I want you to have it. I obtained another one at my Grandpa's card shop, and I don't need two of them. So, I'm letting you have the extra one. Here's the other one I have," Yugi fished through the deck until he came across it, then showed it to Joey. "See?"  
  
"I see. Well, in that case, I'll take the card," he chimed.  
  
"Oh, before I forget, add this card to your deck too. It's called Heavy Storm, and it's special ability is to destroy any magic or traps cards currently on the field."  
  
Joey graciously took the card from Yugi and smiled. "Thanks, man. It seems like you're always helping me out. You're the best friend I ever had," he said and was about to add it into his deck when someone called him.  
  
"Hey, you! Blonde dweeb, think you can handle a duel?" a high-school jock ran up to him and whirled him around. His medium brown hair was done in an ugly lop-over style. He was a tall, bony guy who wore some gray sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt. His hazel eyes looked into Joey and glared at him. "What'da you say, little guy? Think you can take me?"  
  
"Hey, did you just call me 'little guy'?" Joey began to get a little angry at this crude, insensitive jock. The jock cocked his head and replied, "What, are you deaf or something? Yeah, I called you a 'little guy'. Look at you, just truely pathetic looking."  
  
"Who asked you?! How dare you call me little, stupid punk! And look at you, you're one to talk! Your hairdo is absolutely atrocious, and if I didn't know any better, I'd assume there was nothing but bones under those clothes of yours. Maybe I should hit you and see if you crumble," Joey threatened and pounded his fists together.  
  
"You wouldn't dare," the jock shot back, then laughed. "How about we settle this in a official duel. It could be an all-out match, meaning we risk all the stars we have. What do you say? Gonna duel me like a man or coward behind that midget companion of yours?"  
  
"Shut up, punk! And yes, I accept your challenge. We're gonna have an all- out match. Whoever wins get everything and the loser goes home and rot. Guess what? I plan to be the winner here. You're goin' home," Joey said.  
  
"Fat chance! It is I who shall emerge victorious. I've never lost a duel in my entire dueling career, and I don't plan to lose to you," the jock answered, but Joey laughed.  
  
"Who was your opponents, some worms?" he jeered, and the jock frowned.  
  
"Shut your gob! We.. will.. duel! Get out your duel system!" he yelled while transporting his device.  
  
"Shut up and wait! I'm not rushin' for you, little punk," Joey shot back and surfed through his device until he reached his system. He transported it out of subspace, then firmly attached it to his wrist. The jock did the same and looked out at Joey. Both of them powered up their systems via their voices. The same lights flashed through the metal to indicate it was ready, then they shouted, "Duel!" The color-coordinated holographic field grid appeared in front of the two duelists. Joey's was flame red to match his flame red system, and the jock's was a cool blue.  
  
"By the way I'm Joey, what's your name?" asked Joey.  
  
"Devon, now let's get this show on the road."  
  
"Likewise!" shouted Joey.  
  
**************************** *Joey's/ Devon's Life Points- 2000* ****************************  
  
"I shall make the first move to get the duel started," Devon stated and drew five cards to form his hand. He looked them over, then picked two up and slammed them onto the card slots. "I'll play Stone Soldier in defense mode and another card face-down," he said and watched the holocards appear in the slots. The face-down card loaded first (face-down), then the Stone Soldier's holocard appeared and released the massive rock monster onto the field.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 2000  
  
Joey reached out to draw his first five cards. Once done, he looked them over. Polymerization, Axe Raider, Kunai With Chain, Summoned Skull and Salamandra made up his hand. He pulled up the Axe Raider and threw it down. "First, I play Axe Raider in attack mode, then I'll lay out another card for later," Joey does this and watched as his holocards loaded into battle. Axe Raider jumped out of the card and growled.  
  
ATK: 1700 DEF: 1500  
  
"Go, Axe Raider! Attack the Stone Soldier with Wind Blades!" Joey commanded. The Axe Raider ran toward the Stone Soldier with its blade raised in the air. Upon reaching the monster, it slashed the soldier in the midsection and cut it the monster in half. It, along with the holocard it stood on, erupted into pieces. "Good job!" commented Joey.  
  
"Whatever. You think you've done something, but this duel is just getting started. I got a whole lot of tricks to pull," Devon quipped and drew another card from his hand, then placed it down. "I'll play yet another monster in defense mode, Armed Ninja!" the ninja loaded onto the field in a kneeled position.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 300  
  
"Ha! Is that all you can do? Axe Raider, give it a good slicin'!" Joey yelled. His monster complied by slicing the Armed Ninja in half, therefore shattering it. "C'mon, is this the only thing you know how to do, throw monsters in defense mode? You gotta be kidding me."  
  
Devon chose to ignore Joey this time around. He drew the next card from his deck and slapped it onto the card reader. "Enough defending, I'm going on the attack. Dark Magician Girl, in attack mode!" Dark Magician Girl rose out of its holocard and glared at Axe Raider while taking a stance.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1800  
  
"Dark Magician Girl, do away with Axe Raider! Dark Magic Attack!" She raised her staff into the air and fired a large, pink energybeam at Axe Raider. But Joey was already prepared.  
  
"Not so fast, dork! Kunai With Chain!" chimed Joey, and Devon was surprised.  
  
"No, my magician!"  
  
"Yes, my trap card worked just like Yugi said! My Kunai With Chain has ensnared your Dark Magician Girl, and that's sets the stage for my next move," Joey said and drew a card from his deck, along with one from his hand. "I call out the Flame Swordsman, in attack mode! And with the magic of Salamandra, its attack power will be increased by 700 points!" When Joey placed the two cards, they appeared in the duel. Flame Swordsman growled and clutched its powered up sword tightly.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 1500  
  
"Attack the Dark Magician Girl with Salamandra Flame Strike!!" Dark Magician Girl instantly got cooked when the fire dragon struck it.  
  
Devon's Life Points- 1500  
  
"Allright! Dark Magician Girl got toasted!" exclaimed Joey, who then looked over to Yugi.  
  
"Keep it up, Joey. But, don't get carried away. Something tells me that Devon's not gonna go down without a fight. Be prepared," advised Yugi, and Joey winked.  
  
"You got it."  
  
"You were just lucky, that's all. Don't let it go to your head," Devon retorted, and Joey scowled at his remark.  
  
"Hey, that wasn't luck, that was pure skill! You should consider yourself lucky that you've lasted this long against me!" Joey shot back, but all he received was an airhead laugh from Devon.  
  
"And who are you supposed to be, the Supreme Duelist of the world?"  
  
"Not yet, but I sure plan to be!"  
  
Devon laughed yet again, which made Joey scowled once again. "Dream on, nimrod. Your little 'fantasy' will end when I crush you," he said and reached down for a new card. Upon looking at, he smiled and giggled. "This card'll crush those monsters of your for sure! (slaps it down) Kazejin, in attack mode! And I play this magic card, Black Pendant, to raise it's attack power 500 points! (places it down)" The holocards loaded the supercharged monster into the duel.  
  
ATK: 2900 DEF: 2200  
  
"Ah!" gasped Joey. (I don't know Kazejin's real attack, but based off of its card description, I've got a good idea)  
  
"Now, Kazejin, attack the Axe Raider with Solar Wind Blast!" The red box launched a powerful wind gust aimed at Axe Raider. The Axe Raider tried to, but couldn't withstand the attack; it was lifted off the ground and blown all the way back to where Joey stood, where it shattered violently.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 800  
  
"Aah! He took away over half of my life points in just one move!" Joey yelled, and Devon laughed in delight, obviously enjoying his moment of devastating triumph.  
  
"That's the result of playing against a champ like me! After your turn, I'm gonna obliterate your Flame Swordsman, then K.O anything else you decide to play out of that wimpy deck of yours. Make a move."  
  
Joey growled, then switched his Flame Swordsman to defense mode. "Ha! I guess that's the only strategy you can muster in that puny brain of yours. (jeering tone) When things get rough, retreat!" Devon laughed hilariously, much to Joey's disgust. "Not gonna take defeat like a man, hunh? C'mon Kazejin, blow that Flame Swordsman away!" he ordered, and Kazejin struck with another strong wind gust. The Flame Swordsman was tossed aside and destroyed.  
  
"Another wipeout," Joey muttered, then drew a card from his deck. (slaps it down) Garoozis, in defense mode!" The monster loaded and snarled at Kazejin and Devon.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500  
  
"Still goin' defensive, hunh, wimp?" Devon taunted.  
  
"Don't listen to him, Joey! You still have a chance to win this duel!" Yugi encouraged.  
  
Devon pointed his finger at Yugi. "Hey, brat, shut up and stay out of it! This is between me and Joey, and no puny shorties are allowed, got it?!"  
  
"Hey, leave my friend alone!" snapped Joey, and Devon laughed out again.  
  
"(mimicking tone) 'Hey, leave my friend alone'! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You should listen to how pathetic you sound, Joey..."  
  
"Listen up, you dick, in case you haven't noticed, you can't call anybody puny! Just look at you; truly the most hideous thing I've ever seen! You look like you smoke crack, your hair is by far the ugliest hairstyle I've ever seen, your breath smells like horse manure, and I bet you've got a penis the size of a noodle, not that I'd really wanna know! (Devon frowns) Now, you gonna stand around spitting insults at people, or are you gonna duel?" shouted Joey, and Devon clenched his fists in anger.  
  
"Yeah, you tell him, Joey!" exclaimed Yugi.  
  
"You're going to regret EVER insulting Devon Chavez like that! Kazejin, strike with Solar Wind Blast!!" Devon screamed. Kazejin obeyed and fired its powerful gust straight at Garoozis. Although it tried, Garoozis couldn't withstand to the attack and it wound up soaring through the air before shattering right beside Joey. "Take that!"  
  
"Oh, man, what am I gonna do? Kazejin's attack power is 2900, and even my strongest beast, Red Eyes Black Dragon, can't compete with that. What do I do?" Joey pondered. He thought for a little while before he got an idea. "Oh yeah, I forgot the cards Yugi gave me a few minutes ago. They could be my ticket out of this mess. If only I can draw the neccessary cards," he mused and reached to draw. When he picked up the card, it turned out to be the Red Eyes Black Dragon. His face lit up with glee. "Allright! I just drew the card that nearly clintches this match for me. Red Eyes Black Dragon, in attack mode!" (monster loads)  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 2000  
  
Devon burst out into laughter. "You're delusional. There's no way that wimpy Red Eyes Black Dragon can stand up to the might of supercharged Kazejin. Why don't you make an intelligent play and concede the match? Everyone knows there isn't a monster in your deck that can take down my Kazejin."  
  
"If you would just shut up and let me finish my turn, you'll see my strategy," Joey quipped, then drew two cards out of his hand and placed them onto the console in front of him. "Now, I bring out the Summoned Skull, also in attack mode!" Yugi smiled as his former card's holocard loaded his monster into battle.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200  
  
"Still acting dopey, aren't you..."  
  
"And now... I play this polymerization card to combine these two powerful creatures into one, ultra-kick butt monster!" Joey yelled, and Devon couldn't help but gasp. Bright light illuminated from the field and winds blew the duelists, and even Yugi. Once the process was complete, the mighty dragon Yugi previously told Joey about stood on the field. "Behold, the Supreme Black Skull Dragon!"  
  
ATK: 3200 DEF: 2500  
  
"Oh, no!" Devon looked at the massive monster in complete astonishment.  
  
"Oh, yes! But, before I attack, I'm allowing my turn to end," annouced Joey, which forced the gasps of Yugi and Devon.  
  
"Joey, what are you doing?" question Yugi.  
  
"Don't worry. I've got it all in control."  
  
"You lunatic! You had the chance to take out my monster and you didn't?! You are a serious nutcase!" Devon exclaimed and drew a card. "Since you allowed me this turn, I'm gonna take full advantage of it and lay out this card face-down!" he did this, then the face-down holocard appeared to intimidate Joey. But Joey was hardly intimidated. He reached down to draw another card, and got just what he wanted.  
  
"This is just perfect, for now I play Heavy Storm!" he slapped it down, and Devon gasped yet again. "Surprised, Devon? I knew about the hidden effect Black Pendant has when you play it on a monster, and that's why I delayed my attack. If I had've attacked when you expected me too, you would've been able to inflict direct damage to my life points. But, since I waited, I now get to destroy your Black Pendant, along with any other magic or trap cards you had waiting, therefore giving me a clean attack!"  
  
"Whoa, that was some good planning, Joey," commented Yugi, and Joey winked at him. Devon frowned in frustration as lightning bolts descended from the sky and obliterated all both his face-down cards (this is a guess as to what the card's animation would be, because I've never seen it in the show).  
  
ATK: 2400  
  
"Now, Black Skull Dragon, attack with Molten Fireballs!" Joey commanded. Devon slapped his forehead and watched as the multiple fireballs slammed straight into Kazejin and exterminated from the field. A huge explosion erupted afterwards and knocked Devon over because he wasn't expecting it.  
  
Devon's Life Points- 700  
  
"Ohh.. my life points, they're below yours!"  
  
"And I intend for it to stay that way. Looks like the tide of this battle is turning, now you're the one who doesn't have a strong enough monster to beat me," Joey chuckled and winked at Yugi. Devon just rolled his eyes and snarled.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Surge walked through along the shore of the island, flipping through his deck of cards. It was all perfect, except for one thing: The Gamma Dragons were missing. His most powerful cards were taken away from him and given to his now worst enemy, Tristan Taylor. And it was all his father's fault. Robert was the one that gave Tristan the cards in the first place, and it was a very big mistake for Tristan to accept those cards. Surge was determined to get them back into his clutches, no matter what it took. But what was he going to do? How was he going to take the cards back? He tried brute force before, and it left him quite soar.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Hello, Tristan!" Surge greeted. "Long time no see, eh?"  
  
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in jail!" Tristan yelled while standing up.  
  
"Supposed to be... but I'm not. The sheriff let me off on a technicality, Tristan. After I got to him and had a nice 'talk' to him, he let me and my lackies out. Now... enough chitchat. Let's jump to the chase," Surge slowly approached Tristan, still grasping the pole in his hands. "Tristan, you caused me to get locked up, my Gamma Dragon cards were taken from me, and that just doesn't sit well with me, you know? No one's ever made a fool of me and lived to tell the story."  
  
"Guess I'll be the first." Of course, they went at each other for quite a while. When Surge put the knife at Tristan's throat, Tristan stomped on Surge foot as hard as could, making Surge drop the knife. He picked up Surge and threw him onto the counter, and Surge fell onto the dishes and made them fall onto the floor with him and break. Surge slowly got up, and looked at Tristan. Both of them were full of bruises and breathing heavily.  
  
"This isn't over, Tristan, I will be back!" Surge said and darted out of the back door.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
All that furious fighting and it brought him no closer to getting the dragons. So what was left to do? Surge was snapped out of his thoughts as he saw Brock approaching Tristan at the docks. Immediately scampering off behind some nearby rocks, Surge watched the two young men carefully. He was too far away to hear exactly what they were saying, but eventually they ran off heading toward the forest areas. Surge decided to follow them to see what they were up to. Brock and Tristan unwillingly led Surge to their campsite, and Surge smirked deviously. An idea had just came to his mind...  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Off in the western corner of Emerald Island, walked a lonely Ash. He was here now, and was ready to attempt the task of winning 15 stars in 2 months. Ash was ready to win the entire championship, and face-off with Pegasus. And once he beat him, he was going to personally deliver the deadly blow. Ash walked up to a apple tree and sat down. He rubbed his hands through his head and sighed deeply. He looked up to gaze at the beautil trees when suddenly, a lightning bolt struck down a nearby orange tree. Ash gasped in surprise, already knowing what it was. His powers were arousing more and more without his being aware. What was he going to do? They were getting more uncontrollable by the day, and Ash didn't know how to keep them in check. His powers already nearly tipped over the cruise ship he and a few other duelists were traveling on, and it took everything within him to dispel them.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
He (Ash) could hear the deep rumble of tidal wave getting ever closer to the ship, and that made him concentrate even harder. Ash opened his eyes to find the tidal wave still charging for the ship. He frowned and tried cooling himself down by forgetting about what happened. He began to think about pleasant thoughts, like the times he spent with Delia at the park, and others. The tsunami finally began to fizzle out as it began shrinking down into the ocean below. Ash sighed in relief as the tidal wave dissappeared and he waters returned back to normal. His power were beginning to become a problem. He had to find out how to control them, and soon.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
As he sat there, a woman walked toward him. Her footsteps got his attention, and he looked up to see who it was. She was dressed in a flashy magneta leather dress, and matching high-heel sandals. Her deep brown eye stared into his and she moved closer to him. All sorts of jewelry jingled and rattled about due to her walking. She kneeled down beside him and smiled.  
  
"Ohh... look at you. Aren't you Delia's son Ash Ketchum? Remeber me, your Auntie Selena?" she spoke with a somewhat southern accent. "I use to babysit you while your mother was at work, remeber?"  
  
"Yeah... I remeber. Oh, Auntie Selena, it's good to see you," Ash managed to crack a smile as he hugged her, something he hadn't done in quite a long time. After hugging for a little while, they stopped and looked at each other. "Auntie, what are you doing way out on this island?" he inquired.  
  
"Oh, that. What? I can't come see my favorite nephew?" she joked, and Ash let out a gentle laugh. "Now, seriously, I've come because I need to talk to you about something."  
  
"Talk to me about what?"  
  
Selena sighed before continuing. "Don't take this the wrong way, but... I've kinda been spying on you. Now, don't be freaked, but I've been watching you because I fear that you're gonna lose control of your powers, which you are. Your mother told me about 7 years ago that, should anything bad happen to her, she wanted me to keep an eye on you and see if you discover your powers. And if you found them, she told me to help you control them if you can't," she told him.  
  
"So... what you're telling me is that you knew I've had these powers since I was a little kid, and that you've been watching me for 9 years?"  
  
"No, I haven't been looking after you until recently. Your mother wanted you to have a 'guardian angel' to watch you if something happened to her, and she chose me. I've seen that you've been having some trouble keeping your powers at bay, so I'd like to help train you. I dabble in this sort of stuff all the time, so I've got some experience. I.. could help you learn to seize control of this 'gift'. What do you say?"  
  
Ash didn't waist any time pondering. This was the exact miracle he had been hoping for: someone to help him control and wield his powers to their fullest extent. He replied, "Yes, I'd love it if you could help me, Auntie. It would mean a lot to me."  
  
"Allright. Meet me at this location at 1200 hours tomorrow," Selena said and handed Ash a map of Emerald Island. There was a big green 'X' marked on the cliffs overlooking the sandy coast. Ash smiled and hugged Selena.  
  
"Thank you, Auntie Selena," he whispered and she smiled.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
**************************************** *Joey's Life Points- 800//Devon's Life Points- 700* ****************************************  
  
Meanwhile, the duel between Joey and Devon raged on. Joey was currently in the lead by 100 points, and with his Black Skull Dragon out on the field, Joey was extremely confident and sure that this duel was in the bag. Devon didn't know what to do, and Joey's Skull Dragon roaring ferociously made it worse. He didn't have a monster strong enough to defeat the Black Skull Dragon off hand. His only chance was to try and weaken the monster. Devon drew a card from his deck and put in down onto a slot.  
  
"Witch of The Black Forest, in defense mode!" (it loads)  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200  
  
"Ah, now look whose 'chickening'," Joey taunted. "You're not even man enough to stand up and admit defeat. Instead, you're cowering and putting up defenses. Sound familiar?"  
  
"Oh, shut up and move already!"  
  
"Allright, if you insist. Black Skull Dragon, attack!" Joey commanded. His monster complied and dished out three fireballs aimed at the witch. They all struck her and exploded upon contact, therefore destroying her. "Bull's eye for the Skull Dragon!" exclaimed Joey.  
  
Devon drew yet another card and played in defense mode. "I play Reaper of The Cards, defense mode!" The ghastly ghoul took its place on the field.  
  
ATK: 1380 DEF: 1930  
  
"Defense mode again, hunh? Skull Dragon, obliterate it!" The dragon carried out Joey's command, utterly destroying the Reaper with a few blasts of fireballs. Devon was quaking in his boots now. There was only so many cards he could keep playing in defense mode. His trap had to show up soon. He drew another card from his deck and looked at it. It wasn't the card he needed, either.  
  
"Hmm... I'll pass this turn," he stated.  
  
"Let's see, here," Joey murmered as he drew the Time Wizard. "Hmm... I don't need it, but it won't hurt to put it out on the field. I'll lay out the Time Wizard, in defense mode!" Joey slapped down his card and watched it pop up onto the field. Devon drew another card from his field, but it turned out to be the Kourmori Dragon. He sighed heavily and placed it down onto the console, loading it onto the field.  
  
"Kourmori Dragon, in defense mode!"  
  
ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200  
  
"Ha! Allright, Black Skull Dragon, obliterate it!" And that's exactly what the large beast did. With a few fireballs spewed from its mouth, Kourmori Dragon was nothing but dust and smoke, nothing more. "Hey, Devon, why don't you call it quits. It's becoming quite obvious that you have nothing to beat my Black Skull Dragon."  
  
"I'll never give in to the like of you! I'd rather die first," Devon countered and drew another card from the deck. The Swords of Revealing Light wasn't the card the needed, but it would definitely stall Joey and give him time to draw the right card. He placed it down onto the field. "Well, Joey, see how you'll handle this. I play The Swords of Revealing Light!"  
  
"Hunh?" Joey was a bit surprised as the golden swords rained out of the sky and imprisoned his monsters, but he shook it off. "Swords of Revealing Light, eh? I guess it'll help stall your defeat for three turns. Go ahead and make a move."  
  
Devon drew a card from his deck and looked at it. [No! This still isn't the right card! This can't be happening to me! I can't lose to that dense dweeb over there! I need to draw Monster Recovery, or else, I'll never win this duel!] He discarded the card in his hand and passed his turn to Joey. Since Joey didn't have anything to do, he passed it back to him. This was the second of his three free turns, and Devon hoped he would get the right card this time around. After drawing, Devon saw that it still wasn't the card he needed. He discarded the card to the graveyard and passed it back to Joey, who just passed it right back to him since he didn't have any moved to make. This was the last of his free turns, and Devon hoped that the card would show up this time around. He drew a card, and to his surprise, it was Monster Recovery!  
  
"Hmm... what did you get this time, another throwaway?" Joey wondered.  
  
"Not this time! This card will bring you down for sure! I play Monster Recovery!" Devon announced, and Joey gasped. "This card will let me pull all the cards back into my deck, reshuffle it, and then I can draw five new cards! Pretty awesome, wouldn't you say?" Devon smirked as he did the aforementioned actions. After reshuffling the deck, he put it back into the deck keeper and drew five new cards. Looking them over, he had just the cards he needed in his hand. He drew one and placed it down.  
  
"First, I'll use the magic of Monster Reborn to bring back an old friend who died to see you. Behold, the triumphant return of Kazejin!" Devon laughed in delight as his favorite monster found its way back onto the field.  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 2200  
  
"And secondly, I play another Black Pendant, which raises my monster's attack power up to 2900! (this happens) And last, but not least, I'll lay out this little card called Rush Recklessly, which powers up Kazejin even further!" Devon slapped down the card.  
  
ATK: 3400  
  
"Let's see your Black Skull Dragon stand up to this! Kazejin, attack it now!!" Devon shouted. Kazejin blew out its strong gust of wind which managed to lift the dragon into the air and toss it right at Joey's feet. It exploded into pieces, and of course, Joey lost some life points.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 600  
  
Kazejin's attack points dropped back down to 2900 after the effects of Rush Recklessly wore off, but Devon didn't care. "I don't see you smiling and cracking jokes about me now. The tide of this battle is turning, Joey! Mark my words: at the end of this match, you will have fallen!"  
  
"Fat chance!" Joey shot back and drew a card from his deck. It was a De- spell card, which caused Joey to crack a smile upon looking at it. [I forgot about this De-spell card I got from a trade on the boat. I can use this to power down Kazejin.] "Allright, Devon, I play this card, De-spell!"  
  
ATK: 2400  
  
Devon's Black Pendant dissappeared off Kazejin, along with the holocard."No! You got rid of my Kazejin's attack point boost! I'll make you pay by eradicating your Time Wizard! Go, Kazejin!!" Time Wizard was blown back about 4 yards by Kazejin's attack. It instantly shattered upon hitting the ground. "Now, cough up the last of your defenses so I can win the duel."  
  
After drawing a card from the deck, he placed it down on the reader. "Monster Reborn, which I'll use to resurrect the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The holocard turned into a Red-Eyes holocard, which then loaded the previously destroyed monster into battle.  
  
ATK: 2400  
  
"What good is that gonna do? Red-Eyes Black Dragon's attack power is equal to that of my Kazejin. But not for long, because I've got another magic card in my deck to use on it. All I've gotta do is draw it," Devon quipped and drew a card. "I'll place this face-down in defense mode and end my turn."  
  
The face-down holocard loaded up and concealed the monster underneath it. Joey drew a card from his deck, then smirked and looked it Devon. "Well, Devon, you dueled pretty good for a dick, but it's over now. I'm gonna play this, Dragon Nails, which increases my dragon's attack points by 600!" Joey slammed down the card and laughed as Devon cringed.  
  
ATK: 3000  
  
"Oh, no!"  
  
"Say goodbye to Kazejin! Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack with Inferno Fire Blast!!" Joey screamed out at the monster. It immediately complied and launched a powerful fireball at Kazejin. The fireball impacted with Kazejin and ignited in flames and explosions, thus obliterating the monster.  
  
"Aah!! My Kazejin has been destroyed again!" Devon exclaimed in disgust.  
  
Devon's Life Points- 200  
  
"This is just bad. I almost won this duel, but you managed to pull out that blasted Dragon Nails card to power up your dragon to 3000 points. My defense card is nowhere near powerful enough to defeat your dragon, and I don't have any more Monster Recovery cards. I'd rather not see my defense card get destroyed, so... I... give up," he stated and powered down his system. Joey was caught off-guard by Devon statement, but he wasn't surprised. Joey powered down his system also, causing all the monsters to dissappear.  
  
"Ha! I told you I'd be claiming victory. Now, cough up your two stars like we agreed, dick," Joey told him. Devon reluctantly complied and gave Joey his two stars, then began to walk away with his head lowered. He stopped and turned around to face Joey.  
  
"Listen up, Joey, just because I lost to you today doesn't make you a better duelist! Someday, I'll be back to give you crushing defeat!" he stated and walked off.  
  
"Dream on," Joey calmly replied, then faced Yugi. "Yugi, can you believe it? I just won my first duel in the tournament! Aren't you proud of me?!"  
  
"Of course I am, Joey. You've improved a whole lot since you first started dueling, and I bet that you'll get really far in this tournament, if not win it!"  
  
"Yeah..." his voice trailed off. "This is so exciting! I won my first duel of the tournament!" he shouted, then began to clam down afterwards. "But, I never could've beat Devon if it hadn't been for you, Yugi. The training lessons you gave me a while back proved invaluable in my duel. And, I might've lost if you hadn't been generous enough to give me some of your cards to strengthen my deck. Like, Heavy Storm, for example. Without that card, I never would've been able to take away Kazejin's Black Pendant and avoid 500 points of direct damage to my life points. The other cards you handed me also helped me win the duel. You the greatest friend I ever had, Yugi, and I feel like I owe you a great debt," Joey finished telling Yugi his message, and Yugi cracked a smile.  
  
"Nah, you don't owe me anything, Joey. And it wasn't just my cards and lessons that helped you win the duel; it was you and your determination. I'm proud of you, Joey," Yugi said. The two boys then slapped hands with each other and chuckled, then began walking away while conversing.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
After talking with Misty for a little while, Mai had left her campsite to find her own. It didn't take her too long to find a site that appealed to her liking. She set up her campsite right next to a large pond. A hotspring was nearby, and a small canal of water connected the two aqua masses together. She set up her tint on the grass and began unpacking the numerous things she brought with her. Makeup, nail polish, nail filers, exspenive shoes and clothes, among other stuff. After she finished setting up her campsite, she decided to take a swim in the pond. She stripped down to a revealing, two-piece, french-cut swimsuit and dove into the water. She re- emerged on the surface and began to swim about gracefully. Oblivious to her, someone else had entered the water and submerged themselves so she couldn't see them. Mai continued swimming through the water, enjoying the cool, surprisingly clean, refreshing feel of the water brushing against her body. The person was gaining on her, but she had no idea they were down there. After taking a few more strokes, Mai stopped swimming and simply floated about. The water felt so good to her, but the calm, relaxed feeling she once had vanished when something suddenly snatched her underwater. She was a bit confused and surprised, but it turned out to be Tori. She, along with him, surfaced and Tori began taking some deep breaths.  
  
Mai hit him on the arm and yelled, "Tori, where'd you come from?! And why the heck did you just do that?! Some of that water got in my mouth!!"  
  
"Sorry, sorry, chill out. I was just trying to get your attention, plus it was funny to me," he answered.  
  
"You call that funny?! What if it was you who was relaxing peacefully, then suddenly gets yanked underwater by surprise?! Would you like it?!"  
  
"Uh, I guess not. Anyway, moving on. Mai, I just came out here to see how you were doing. I meant no harm."  
  
"Well, I was doing fine," she replied and began swimming back toward her campsite, and Tori followed her.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry for the joke, okay? I thought you liked surprises, and I thought I'd give you one, but obviously, it was not the kind of surprise you like. Mai, I was just playing, nothing more," Tori explained.  
  
"Fine, I accept your apology. But if you do anything like that again..."  
  
"I know, you'll beat me into a pulp, got it. So, are you comfortable with the fact of staying on a remote island participating in a tournament?"  
  
"Not really. I'd much rather have stayed on the boat, but this'll do. It's something different, for one," Mai responded. When they reached the end of the pond, both of them climbed out and headed into the tint she had set up. They both entered and sat down opposite to each other. "Well, I should start putting my clothes on so I can begin earning stars."  
  
"Yeah, you're right. The sooner we can get to Crystal Kingdom and complete our mission, the better. Is your deck fully assembled?" Tori wondered.  
  
"Of course, doofus. It's been prepared for the last few days," Mai replied and sighed. "Now, get out. I'm about to put on some clean clothes, and you're not allowed to look," she ordered.  
  
Tori got up and bowed. "(with sarcasm) Of course, your majesty," he said and walked out of the tint. Mai zipped it closed began to ponder about what she should wear.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, at the secluded central Palace of Crystal Kingdom, Maximillion Pegasus was standing outside on his posh balcony thinking. [Hmm... the Sub- Competition has finally come to a start. In two months, every duelist who obtains fifteen stars in two months shall determine how the main championship lineups shall be prepared. Hopefully, this Sub-Competition shall flush out all the weak, dueling filth, so that when the real shindig being, there will be nothing but strong, defiant duelists who shall give a very entertaining tournament. And hopefully, one of those duelists will be the new and improved Ashton Ketchum. I've already sent that disguised aunte of his to help him harness his powers. Then, when he arrives here, I shall capture him and take him to the secret labs to scrutinize his powers and learn how to transform the young man into the perfect killing machine. He should be perfect for eliminating the presidents of competing corporations and causing the enterprises to tumble into oblivion... (laughs)]  
  
"Master Pegasus, a thousand pardons for interrupting your private time, sir, but I've come to tell you that Morty's Millenium Key still refuses to detach itself from the host," Croquet spoke with a flat tone of voice.  
  
"You've told me this before, Croquet. In fact, you've been telling me this ever since we kidnapped the man. So, why are you still reporting this news, instead of telling me that you've succeeded in getting it off?!" Maximillion spun around and gave Croquet a nasty glare.  
  
"Sorry, sir, but I am not the one in control of the research. I simply supervise. The simpletons who are studying this has yet to figure out how to remove it. I thought you'd want to know our current situation."  
  
"Well, then, I guess I have nothing else to do except have another crack at our guest. Take me to him, please," Pegasus commanded. After grabbing a few things, Croquet obeyed diligently and quickly brought the Duel Monsters creator down the underground floors. He led Pegasus through the numerous corridoors and to Morty's cell. Morty's grease burns had been somewhat treated, but there were still obvious burn marks on his bare chest and feet. He had been given a little food and water, but just enough to keep him alive. He was still very weak, especially after the last tortue session Pegasus gave him. Croquet lowered the force field and Pegasus stepped into the cell once again, determined to make Morty fess up on the secret of getting the Millenium Key away from his neck. Pegasus approached Morty and clapped his hand loudly to wake him. Morty slowly came to and the first things his eyes set sight on was: a platinum-haired Maximillion Pegasus. He scowled at him in anger.  
  
"Well, well, come back to beg of my cooperation?" he said in a raspy voice.  
  
"Beg? No, no, I don't plan to beg at all. I don't beg to anyone, Morty. When I want something, I get it at all costs. It's always been that way for me, and it's not going to change with you. Now, tell me, how do you get the key to release itself from you?" he inquired.  
  
Morty hesitated to answer for a moment, then spoke, "Why should I tell you?"  
  
"Because, if you knew what was in store, Morty-boy, you wouldn't be so resistant." He clasped his hands on Morty's neck and began squeezing it. Morty began to choke and cough as Pegasus spoke. "Have you ever heard of the saying 'Resistance is futile'? It's something an alien species known as the Borg used to say when those Star Trek tv shows were airing. What the Borg says applies to you too, Morty. Resistance is futile, and its only a matter of time before you give in and I claim my prize: your Millenium Key," he finished and released Morty's throat, thus allowing Morty to breathe.  
  
"Resistance.. is what'll stop you... in your tracks," Morty said through coughs. Without further ado, Pegasus punched Morty in the face.  
  
"Tell me the secret, now!" he demanded, but Morty didn't say a word. Instead, he began to chuckle. "What's so funny?"  
  
"It's you, Pegasus," answered Morty. "All the power you have in your possession. You can get almost anything you want, whether it be a new car, a card exclusive to you only, mansions situated all over the world. You've even got pretty good experience in witchcraft; I heard some of the guard talking outside. They say you can do a lot of stuff. You can get anything you want; you can do anything you want, and you're a pretty powerful wizard, but even with all that power at your fingertips, you can't even get one teeny little man to spill a secret about an artifact. It's pretty funny if you ask me."  
  
"No one asked you!" Pegasus snapped and punched him in the mouth. "Just tell me the secret, and I'll let you go. You don't have to be in here any longer. You're free to walk out of that threshold and waltz your way right out of this palace, if you just tell me what I need to know. Give me the Millenium Key," Pegasus said, but Morty refused.  
  
"There's no way I'm gonna let a family heritage get corrupted by an evil dick like you."  
  
Pegasus punched Morty in the mouth quite harshly. A small amount of blood began to trickle out of his mouth and Morty coughed and gagged off the rising blood in his throat. "Any more talk like that and I'll dig your heart out. Now, we're gonna do thing my way," Pegasus stated and pulled out some pliers. He then clamped them right above Morty's navel and began to pull back on the skin. It eventually began to tear and a hole was formed. Morty held in the scream but his face showed he was obviously in immense pain. Pegasus then took the pliers and began to stretch the skin further apart.  
  
"Aah!!" Morty couldn't hold it in any longer. He screamed in agony and Pegasus continued pulling the skin apart.  
  
"Will you tell now, Morty-boy?!"  
  
"No..."  
  
"Curse you!! What do it take?!" Pegasus punched Morty's neck seven times and sighed. "Hmm... maybe, maybe if I kill you the connection to your Millenium Key will be shattered. thus allowing me to take it."  
  
"You wouldn't dare..." Morty's voice trailed off as fear began to grow inside him.  
  
"On the contrary, Morty, yes I would. But, there is the possibility that if I kill you now, you'll never be able to tell me what you know, then I'll lose the only chance of getting my prize. So for now, I'll let you live," Pegasus told him, then he approached him until their faces were inches apart. "But, I don't have much patience left, Morty-boy. Sooner or later, I'll take the risk, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that, now would you?" Pegasus threatened, then he turned and walked out of the cell. A nearby doctor walked inside to patch up Morty's wound.  
  
[Jasmine... it's been a long time, but... I know you'll come and rescue me. Please, come and get me soon...]  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Back on the island, a man's facial expression was filled with dissappointment as a Cannon Soldier prepared to shoot him. It raised its cannon and fired out a yellow beam, which plastered against the man himself. He screamed as wind blew against and the blinding light forced him to shut his eyes. After the beam stopped firing, he opened them and witnessed the result.  
  
Man's Life Points- 0  
  
"Well, well, I win," said a woman, who went by the name of Jasmine Cortez. She powered down her system and gladly accepted the two stars she won from the match. "It was a great duel," she told the man.  
  
"Thanks, and good luck in the tournament," he replied and shook her hand. Afterwards, he walked away. Jasmine looked up toward the sky and pictured Morty's face. She was determined to find him and rescue him, wherever he was. She would not fail her love.  
  
"Don't worry, honey, I'm coming. I won't let you down..."  
  
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What did you think? Be sure to tell me. I have a new e-mail address, and it's called "TheMusicianKing@hotmail.com" If you have any questions or comments, by all means, send them, but don't send any flames if you don't like the episode. Constructive critism is fine, but no flames! Well, 'till next time. 


	9. Episode 09, 'Match Point For Geoff'

Hi, I'm back! And it's time for another episode of fanfic, Duelists of The Future! Anyway, to replace Aya Kristina Corrington, I've decided to add a new character. I won't tell you anything about him, but you'll know him when you see him. So, the tournament has now begun! Who's going to make it through the Sub-Competition? Will anyone get eliminated? Only time will tell, so without further ado, I present the brand-new episode to you!  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 09, 'Match Point For Geoff' (2/8/2003)  
  
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A couple of days has passed since the start of the tournament. Some duelists had already been eliminated, and others were progressing quite nicely. One of the 'finer' duelists happened to be engaging in a duel with a seventeen year-old girl down at the shores of Emerald Island. He was beating her in flying colors, no matter what she threw at him. "Gate Guardian, obliterate the third hat, now! Thunderstroke attack!" shouted a man. The large monster powered up a large beam composed of water, wind, and thunder elements, then fired it at the third hat. The beam destroyed the third hat, then a Dark Magician materialized and exploded, ending the match.  
  
Girl's Life Points- 0  
  
"Ha, ha, I won!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Oh... how could I lose," she whined and stumped her feet in a small tantrum. The large man approached her and received her three stars, adding his total up to six stars. After inserting them into his dueling glove, he smiled and extended his hand in front of her.  
  
"It was a good and honorable match," he told her, and she shook his hand.  
  
"Same here. Well, I guess I'd better get going."  
  
"Take care," he said as she departed from him. Afterwards, he walked off to find some more duelists. The man's name was Geoff Okasinski. He was 22 years-old, and his date of birth was January 7, 1981. He was a white male that stood tall at 6'0 ft, and weighed in at 200 lbs. He was also a muscular man; his brown hair was combed a long braid that extended down to his waist. Geoff was a pretty nice guy, very active and nowhere near socially inept. He was a very outgoing guy who loved to talk, especially to women. His gentle, brown eyes concealed the tough, powerful guy that he really was. Geoff loved to play Duel Monsters; his favorite cards being the extremely rare and powerful Tri-Horn Dragon, and another card known as the Cosmo Queen. He also liked playing with other types of video games, too, as well as make friends, and he hated all kinds of bullies. Geoff walked away from the shores and began to head back into the main area of the island to try and find more duelists to crush. He had always been kind of poor since his entire life, so winning the prize money meant a lot to him. However, he quickly forgot about the prize money upon spotting a familiar person, well actually two, walking about. It was Ashton Ketchum! And he was walking along with... his mother?! Geoff was confused. His mother, Selena Okasinski, hadn't went along on the trip with him. The last thing he remebered her doing was hearing her 'doing it' with his father in their room (not that he was trying to listen, they were really loud). So, how did she get out there? First off, no one really knew how to get to Emerald Island except for the pilots of the cruise ship. Secondly, she wasn't on the cruise ship... so someone had to be impersonating her. But, his mother was always generally weird, and he have seen her doing things no one ordinarily could do. Geoff decided to follow them to see where they were going. Maybe then he would get some answers...  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Eventually, Ash and Selena arrived at the spot they were heading toward. It was a large, red tint. Geoff watched them secretly, and was very careful not to expose himself. Ash and Selena continued inside the tint, and Selena zipped the tint up from the inside. Geoff knew he couldn't get close to them without them seeing his shadow, but he could still see their shadows inside the tint because Selena had turned on a lamp to help illuminate the inside. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate, as if he was trying to activate something from within... Inside the tint, Ash looked around the place. There wasn't much inside, just a bed, a few bags, and two chairs. Selena offered one of the chairs to him and he seated himself.  
  
"Okay, now, listen closely, Ash. You told me the other day that you were having a bit of trouble controlling your powers, right?"  
  
"Uh, yeah," replied Ash. "It was happening pretty frequently, but ever since you came around, they've kinda died down."  
  
"Well, do you mind describing each of the times they appeared?" she asked him.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Just... tell me.. what were you doing at the time? What was you thinking about when it happened? How did you feel? What were you moods? Just try your best to give me a vivid description of what was going on at the time your powers began to arouse," she explained.  
  
Ash nodded his head. "Okay. Um, well, the first time it took place..."  
  
(Flashback 1)  
  
He had just purchased the Plasma Blaster from the gunshop, and was heading home. Ash had no intention of participating in Pegasus's little championship. He was coming to kill him. Ash was still infuriated at what Pegasus had did earlier. His hands quivered slightly as Ash began to get more and more enraged by the second. Without warning, the earth suddenly began to shake. Ash wondered what was going on. The earth continued to shake. It wasn't bad, but it was bad enough to knock down a few things inside buildings. Then, it stopped. Just as quickly as it came it went away.  
  
(End Flashback 1)  
  
"...I was confused, a bit disoriented, and kinda shocked because Pallet Town had really had many earthquakes in the past, especially tremors. I'm not exactly sure if this is the work of my powers or not, because I've never been able to do it," Ash told her, and Selena acknowledged this information.  
  
"Oh, that was probably you. See, if you're who I think you are, then control over the Seismic Activity of the earth are a part of your 'arsenal', if you wanna put it that way."  
  
"Wait a minute, who do you think I am?" Ash wondered.  
  
Selena shook her head and spoke, "No, no, we'll come back to that later. For now, just continue with the stories. When was the next time this happened and what was you doing?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
(Flashback 2)  
  
Suddenly, a cluster of green energy shot a symbol hanging from a tree and destroyed it. Ash was off in the forest (behind his house) getting some long range target practice. He reloaded the gun with new ammunition and aimed for another target. This target was a pole which was farther away than the last one. He eyed the target carefully, to make sure that what he was aiming at was the actual thing. Suddenly, his eyesight honed in on the object.  
  
"What the..." Ash was shocked. "How is... this possible..." he wondered. He could see the target perfectly now, because his eyesight had zoomed in on it. Ash closed his eyes, then opened them back up to find that they returned to normal. What had just happened to him? He didn't have any binoculars, yet he could see as far as one. Maybe Pegasus was right, maybe he did have some kind of special powers. But how would it be possible?  
  
Ash (voiceover *): *I was very confused about all this, but I decided to delve into this matter some more, and began trying to purposely making my powers activate, in hopes of controlling them. If I could learn how to master my powers, my... well, I'll just go on.*  
  
He sighed and decided to try it again. He squinted his eyes and focused on the pole, hoping he could do it. However, this time around, a bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck the pole down. Ash gasped in shock. That was no coincedence, either. There wasn't any thunderstorm going on, and Ash knew it was him who channeled the lightning down to the pole, but how could he do all this?  
  
(End Flashback 2)  
  
"And that's what happened?" Selena asked.  
  
"Yep, but that's not the last time my powers decided to strike back up, though," he informed her.  
  
"Really? Well, what was you thinking about?"  
  
"Does that really matter? Sometimes I'm not even thinking about anything at all and they strike up! All I wanna know is can I control them?"  
  
"Well, we'll see. Go on with your next story," Selena ordered. Ash sighed deeply and began to remeber what happened.  
  
"Well, next time they cut loose, I was on the boat..."  
  
(Flashback 3)  
  
Without warning, the boat began to rock back and forth. It was gentle at first, but as seconds passed it grew more violent. Ash quickly darted outside. Although the sun was high in the sky, the ocean waters were shifting and surging quite violently, like a storm was there. Ash was in complete confusement as the waters tossed the boat around. The shaking made Ash lose his footing and he fell on the floor. Getting back up, another wave plastered against the ship. As the ship rocked, Ash began to realize how this was happening. It wasn't any storm in sight, yet the ocean waters were raucous. It had to be him doing it. Those mysterious powers must've kicked in again. Another wave hit the ship, and it was more violent than the last. The tipping of the boat made Ash fall to the floor and slide into the bedroom of the suite. Another wave ravaged the ship from the other side, causing the boat to tilt to the left, making Ash slide out onto the balcony. He quickly used the railing to regain his footing, then tried to concentrate on controlling the storm. Apparently, his powers were somewhat tied into his emotions, because whenever Ash began to get angry, something weird happened. Ash closed his eyes and continued his attempt to get rid of the raging waters. When he opened his eyes back up to see if any progress was being made, a huge tidal wave had formed and was charging relentlessly toward the cruise ship. Ash gasped in the surprise and closed his eyes, trying as hard as he could to control the powers within. He could hear the deep rumble of tidal wave getting ever closer to the ship, and that made him concentrate even harder. Ash opened his eyes to find the tidal wave still charging for the ship. He frowned and tried cooling himself down by forgetting about what happened. He began to think about pleasant thoughts, like the times he spent with Delia at the park, and others. The tsunami finally began to fizzle out as it began shrinking down into the ocean below.  
  
(End Flashback 3)  
  
"...I don't understand why these powers like to start so violently, and it takes all I can to stop them. Yesterday morning, I was having a bit of trouble with them too, remeber? You said you saw the lightning bolt strike down that Apple Tree. What can I do, Auntie?" Ash asked.  
  
Selena sighed. "Hmm... this is all very interesting. I think I have enough details, Ashton. Now, let's get to the training." Selena took out a marker and began to draw a circle in the grass.  
  
"What are you doing, Auntie?"  
  
"This is all part of a ancient ritual know as 'Meditation'. Meditation is supposed to help you reach down within your inner self and balance out your emotions, thoughts."  
  
"So in other words, you're gonna try putting me in a trance?"  
  
"No, silly. Meditating will help to find the imbalance within you, which is your powers. Once you harmonize your powers with your thoughts and actions, you will have completed the first step in your goal of mastering your rare powers, get it?"  
  
"Uh, yeah, I understand," Ash acknowledged. Selena directed him to the center of the circle. Ash seated himself in the circle and closed his eyes. Selena began to talk soothingly to him, telling him to released the stress and forget about everything. Ash continued to sit there with his eyes closed, doing as Selena instructed. He was trying to forget about everything.  
  
Outside, Geoff was a bit surprised... he was too stunned to blink his eyes or think any thought about this, that is, until a little girl walked up to him and began yelling obnoxously. "Hey, man, are you a duelist? If you are, duel me right now!" she snapped.  
  
"Hey, hey there, chill out," Geoff said.  
  
"Just answer my question, are you a duelist?!" she shouted.  
  
"Yeah, I'm a duelist, but I'm not gonna duel you right now."  
  
"Hunh? What do you mean you won't duel me right now?! I asked you duel and just what you're gonna give me, a friggin' duel!"  
  
"Chill, little girl, I just don't have time right now, please," he responded, then tried to turn his attention back to Selena and Ash. The little girl's face began to flood with anger and dissappointment.  
  
"Hey! I didn't come out here just to sit around watching dummies like you sit around doing nothing, I came to duel! Give me a duel right now!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Be quiet, or else you'll...." Geoff's voice trailed off as he tried to think of something to scare the little girl off. "...um, you'll wake up the mean old witch inside the tint!" he whispered.  
  
"Really? There's a mean old witch in there? Wow, this is gotta see, whee!" the little girl began running toward the entrance of the tint.  
  
"Hey, no, wait!" Geoff grabbed her and pulled her back toward him. "You can't do that! If you go inside, she'll put a hex on you!"  
  
"Oh, really? I didn't know that," she chirped, then suddenly stumped on his foot as hard as she could. Geoff yelped out in pain. "Did you really expect me to buy that 'witch' crap?! Duel me, old geezer, now!!" she demanded.  
  
Geoff grabbed his foot and hopped about trying to rid himself of the pain. "Old geezer?! You got a lot of nerves, little twerp. What's your name?"  
  
"Me? I am Rebecca Hawkins, number one duelist of America..." before Rebecca could finish her introductory speech, Ash and Selena decided to come out of the tint to see what all the noise was. "Waah! There really was a mean old witch in there!" Rebecca darted off into the forest.  
  
"Geoff... is that you?" Ash's eyes widened in shock.  
  
"What's this? Who are you people and what are you doing in my camping area making all this noise?" Selena asked.  
  
"Mother, you don't recognize me?" Geoff was taken aback. Selena sweatdropped and laughed quite nervously.  
  
"Oh, but of course! How are you?"  
  
"Uh, fine. Mother, how did you get all the way out here in such short time? The last thing I saw you doing was, uh... well you know."  
  
"Yes, I'm sure I do. Well, I just rented a speedboat and made my way out here. I had some business to take care of, and I'm sure you understand," Selena said and forced a chuckle. "Now, why don't you and the girl take your little dispute somewhere else, eh?"  
  
Geoff knew there was something off with his mother. "Wait a minute, how did you know how to get to Emerald Island? This is a remote island that most people never even heard of. The only people I know of that knew how to get here was the pilots of Pegasus's cruise ship."  
  
"Um, well, I sorta hacked into Pegasus's exclusive computer and found out the directions," she rushed out.  
  
"But, you don't know how to hack into other computers."  
  
"There's a lot you don't know about your mother, son. Now..."  
  
"Wait a minute," Geoff interrupted. "You're not acting the Selena I know. My guess is you're not her, aren't you?"  
  
"Now, what gives you that idea? That's absurd!" Selena chimed, but Geoff was convinced she wasn't his mother now.  
  
"I just realized something. In this entire conversation, you never once said my name. Mom... what's my name?" Geoff inquired. "How old am I? What year was I born in? What month? What was the date? You don't know a single thing about me, which leads me to conclude that you're not my mother," he announced.  
  
Selena began to laughed malicously. "You're right about that, punk," she suddenly lashed out and grabbed Ash by the neck, choking him. "You should've minded your own business! Me and Ash were about to progress in his lesson, but you came and interrupted it, along with that brat!! Go away and stay away, or else I'll sever his head from the body!!" she yelled.  
  
Geoff's eyes began to glow an fiery red. The Selena impersonator found herself releasing Ash although she didn't want to. "Hunh? What's this?" she was surprised. Geoff was using telekineses. He used the telekinetic power to pull Ash over to where he was standing. He then looked up toward the sky "Element of Lightning, I call upon you! Come to me!" he shouted. Suddenly, several lightning bolts struck Geoff and he began to absorb it all like a sponge absorbing water. Selena's, along with Ash's, eyes were popped open in shock. After he soaked in as much as he wanted, the lightning bolts fizzled out. His hands were sparking with electricity in them. He thrusted his right hand out and a lightning discharge jumped out of his hand and struck Selena, electrocuting her to a sizzling crisp. Her fried remains of ashes were all left of her. Geoff turned to face a shocked Ash.  
  
"Well, what's up, cousin?"  
  
"How did you manage to that?" Ash mused.  
  
"C'mon, I tell you over some lunch, how about it?"  
  
"Uh, sure, cuz," Ash replied and two gave each other a short hug. Just when they were about to walk away, a voice stopped them.  
  
"Hey, stop! I remeber asking you to duel me but you were too chicken! C'mon, big guy?! Think you're tough enough to take the skill and finesse of a true champion?!" Rebecca had returned.  
  
"Oh, boy..." Geoff sighed and put his hands on his forehead.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Sakura was at her campsite enjoying some roasted marshmellows. She munched on one as she whipped out a small book full of blank pages. It was her personal diary that she used to keep track of her life and any treasured memories it held for her. It was also a way to express how she felt during the day: her thoughts and feelings, what kind of mood she was in, her emotions toward someone, and other things. She transported a pen out of her S.C.T and began to write a log entry.  
  
"Wednesday, June 1st, 2033. Time of day: 12:00 hours. Temperature: 74 degrees. Weather: Sunny with a few wispy cirrus clouds decorating the sky. Dear Diary, today is the third day of the Duel Monsters: Crystal Kingdom Tournament. So far, I have earned five stars total. I plan to earn more, but I'm not rushing to get them. I'm carefully choosing my opponents to make sure I get someone at my level. I'm not too good at this game, but I do hope I can at least make it through the Sub-Competition. That's all I want. Once I reach Crystal Kingdom, I can confront my true love, Maximillion Pegasus. Hopefully, he'll see that we belong together, and he'll kiss me and give me some hot love..." After Sakura finished the log entry, she transported both the pen and book inside her device and began munching on more marshmellows.  
  
"Hey there, Sakura," someone spoke.  
  
Sakura looked up to see Li Showron, the boy she ran into on the cruise ship. She sighed in relief. "What's up, Li? I hadn't seen you since we bumped into each other on the cruise ship. How are you?"  
  
"I'm fine," answered Li. "Those marshmellows look delicious, may I have some?"  
  
"Of course," Sakura granted. Li sat down and popped one in his mouth. "So, how are they?"  
  
"They're really good," Li commented and grabbed another one, popping it in his mouth. "Have you been in any duels yet?"  
  
"Yeah, I've been in a few duels. I've earned five stars, see?" Sakura whipped out her dueling glove and showed it to him. Li awed and she giggled. "It's not that big an accomplishment. I bet you have more than me."  
  
"That I'll have to agree with," Li smirked and flashed his seven stars in her face.  
  
"Wow! You have seven stars already!" Sakura exclaimed in amazement. "You must be an excellent duelist!"  
  
"That I'll also have to agree with," Li chimed with a hint of pride in his voice.  
  
"Hey, Li, I wanna ask you something that regards Duel Monsters. Do you mind helping me familiarize myself with the tactics and strategies of Duel Monsters? I really need to make it through this little competition, so, can you help me?" Sakura asked.  
  
"Uh... I don't know, Sakura. I'm kinda busy winning," Li replied, and Sakura began to plead.  
  
"Oh c'mon, Li, please?! I need your help. You seem like you're a master with this game, and since we've gotten off to a good start so far, I want you to teach me how to play Duel Monsters like a master."  
  
Li sighed deeply. "Really, Sakura, I'm not that good. I do consider myself a fairly good duelists, but I'm nowhere near the level of a master."  
  
"I'll tell you what: how about we have a little duel right now just so I can show you just how bad I play and how much I need your coaching," Sakura suggested.  
  
Li shook his head. "Nah, that'll be unnecessary. I'll teach you how to play the game like a pro."  
  
"Really? You'll do that for me?! Thank you! So, when will we start?" she asked.  
  
"Meet me at the docks around 18:00 hours (6 pm). We'll start your training there, okay?"  
  
"Fine with me," Sakura chirped and giggled in delight. "Li, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your helping me. Thanks a lot."  
  
Li got up off the ground and shrugged. "Aw, it's nothing. I'll see you in a little while, right?"  
  
"Right." Sakura watched as Li walked off. She sighed in relief and looked up to the sky. With Li helping her learn the game, she was sure she was going to get through the Sub-Competition, make it to Crystal Kingdom, and reunite with her true love.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Seto Kaiba walked through the meadows of the island while looking over his deck. It was at pure perfection. He had just crushed a duelist not too long and took all his stars. It wouldn't be too long before he qualified for entrance to the main championship. Once there, he was going to work his way through the duelists until he reached Pegasus, and once there, he was determined to beat him and take over Industrial Illusions. Seto smirked as he ran across one of the Blue Eyes White Dragons. These cards made a whole lot of duels easier, but Pegasus had been distributing a lot of these cards lately, so he was sure he'd run across a duelist with one sooner or later. But, it still didn't phase him. Seto thought he had the strongest deck in the world. His eyes flashed across another duelist picking some strawberries off a bush. He smiled and ran off to crush him, but Misty stopped him.  
  
"What's up, there, Seto?" she chimed.  
  
Seto froze. He was still insanely nervous around Misty due to the fact that he poisoned her sisters. He didn't want to talk to her or even see her, but he had to act normal and keep his cool. He turned around to face her. "Hi, Misty," he replied.  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"I'm fine. Look, I was about to..." Seto got interrupted by Misty.  
  
"So, how are you doing in the tournament? Have you had any duels yet?" she asked him.  
  
"Yes. To date, I have earned seven stars," Seto told her.  
  
"Oh really? You're doing pretty good in this tournament," Misty commented.  
  
"Well, that's what you can expect from the World Champion," Seto shot back and chuckled. "Are you doing well in the tournament? I would hope so." He really hoped she was sucking, but he had to keep a positive, good image when around Misty. If he started showing that he was nervous or started acting gloomy around her, she would get suspicious.  
  
"Well, thanks for your concern, I appreciate it," Misty said, then continued on to tell him about to status. "Well, I've gotten six stars total, but I'm gonna try to earn nine before this week is over with."  
  
"Misty, I don't mean to be rude, but how are your sisters? If you're out here, then they must have recovered from the poisoning you told me about, right?" he asked with a pinch of nervousness in his voice, but Misty didn't seem to notice. She sighed heavily.  
  
"Actually, that's why I'm here. You see, I'm trying to win the prize money so that I can pay that wench I told you about the money she demands in order for her to began researching the toxin and finding out what she can about it. Once she does that, she'll try to find a cure," Misty explained.  
  
[Oh no! If Misty succeeds and win the prize money, then I'm doomed! Whatever happens, I cannot let that girl advance into the main tournament! I've got to knock her out right here and now!] "Well... I wish you the best of luck on your noble quest. If you win the tournament, give me a ring and let me know how everything turns out," Seto requested, and Misty nodded.  
  
"I'll do that," she replied.  
  
"Well, I shouldn't be holding you up from your journey. See 'ya later," Seto rushed out and ran off in search of the duelist he was preparing to clobber.  
  
"Good luck, Seto!" Misty yelled after him.  
  
"Thanks, and good luck to you too!" Seto yelled back, then turned his attention to other matters. "Whatever I do, I've got to find a way to knock Misty out of the tournament. If she manages to save her sisters, they're gonna rat me out, and I'll be finished!"  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
"First off, what's your name?!" Rebecca asked.  
  
"Me? I'm Geoff Okasinski..."  
  
"Geoff Okasinski? You're recognized as the 3rd best duelist of the entire world! I've seen you on tv before! I wonder how proud my Grandfather will be when he hear that I defeated the 3rd best duelist of the world. Well, enough about you. Now, I want a duel and I'm gonna get duel! Bust out your cards and let's get it on!!" she screamed impatiently.  
  
"Allright, Rebecca, I've had enough of you. Let's duel!" Geoff snapped and strapped on his new, midnight blue dueling system. Rebecca strapped on her pastel pink system and walked a good distance away from Geoff. Both of them inserted their decks into the slot, powered up their systems and looked at each other. "Allright, little girl, ready to get your butt kicked across the island and back?"  
  
Rebecca pulled a little brown bear out of the purse she was carrying. "I'm not the one who gonna lose, you are! You've just met your match, Geoff! Isn't that right, Teddy?"  
  
Geoff's eyes bucked open. [She talks to the bear? I can't believe what I'm seeing!] "What are the stakes, Rebecca?"  
  
"4 stars. Who ever wins gets 4 stars as a rewards, agreed?" Rebecca suggested.  
  
"Agreed!" Geoff complied.  
  
***Rebecca's Life Points- 2000/Geoff's Life Points- 2000***  
  
He began to draw some cards from the deck to form his hand, but Rebecca interrupted him. "Wait a minute, ladies first!!" Rebecca commanded and drew some cards out of the deck. Geoff shook his head at the obnoxious girl and sighed. Rebecca showed her cards to the bear. "Hmm... isn't this great Teddy? (as teddy) It sure is, Rebecca! (normal voice) Thank you, Teddy! (Geoff is disturbed) For my first move, I'll lay out a card face-down and summon the Shadow Ghoul, in attack mode!" Her monster jumped out of the holocard and took a stance on the field.  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1300  
  
"And one more thing, I'll play the Time Seal card! (Geoff gasps) That forces you to skip the draw phase of your turn, and since there's no monsters on your side of the field, you can't do anything. But, I'm free to directly attack your life points!" Rebecca announced.  
  
"Geoff, this is bad!" chimed Ash.  
  
"Now, Shadow Ghoul, attack with Green Vapor Shrouds!!" Rebecca screeched in delight. The Shadow Ghoul launched dozens of green beams at Geoff and knocked him over with them. Rebecca giggled and said, "Did that hurt, tough guy?"  
  
Geoff got back up and watched his life points sink down to 400. "Whoa!" he was shocked.  
  
"I can't believe it, Geoff! Rebecca managed to take away the majority of your life points in just one turn!" exclaimed a surprised Ash.  
  
Rebecca laughed heartily. "I told you you've met your match, Geoff! You're going down! Whee!!" she jumped up and down, laughing as hard as she could. She was obviously savoring and enjoying the moment. Geoff just frowned and drew a card from his hand.  
  
"I've got to be careful. I don't have many life points left, and she still has a face-down card just waiting to be sprung. But, if I don't make a move now, she'll be able to attack me again, and the result won't be pretty, either. I'll attack with my Sanga of Thunder, in attack mode!" Geoff slapped down his card, summoning it to the field.  
  
ATK: 2600 DEF: 2200  
  
"Attack Shadow Ghoul, now, Thunder Strike!" Geoff commanded. His monster fired several beams of pure electricity at Rebecca's Shadow Ghoul, but she was prepared.  
  
"Ah ha! I'll stop your attack dead in it's track, with Negate Attack!" The mystical portal absorbed the lightning, saving her monster from destruction. Geoff scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Now, let's see here," Rebecca drew a card from her deck and looked at it, then showed it to the teddy bear. "Whee! Look what card we drew teddy! Isn't this amazing?! (as teddy) Yep! (normal) I summon the Witch of the Black Forest, in attack mode!"  
  
"Witch of the Black Forest?" mused Geoff as the card loaded into battle. The witch snickered upon taking her place. "Why would Rebecca play that card? It has hardly any attack strength..."  
  
ATK: 1100 DEF: 1200  
  
"Oh my, Teddy, Geoff thinks slowly. His primitive mind is no match against my genius brain, isn't that right, Teddy? (as Teddy) Yep!" Rebecca giggled. [I know I'll lose a lot of life points, but I know he'd rather attack the witch because it's weaker. Anything to distract him from the real prize, which is Shadow Ghoul.]  
  
"You just made a big mistake, Rebecca. Sanga of Thunder, attack Witch of the Black Forest now!" Sanga of Thunder delivered its powerful bolts of thunder to the witch, who shrieked and shattered rather violently.  
  
Rebecca's Life Points- 500  
  
"Take that, Rebecca!" quipped Geoff.  
  
"You have no idea what you're setting yourself against, Geoff. Thanks to the destruction of my witch, Shadow Ghoul's attack powers raises up 100 points!" Rebecca exclaimed joyfully, but Geoff was not phased at all.  
  
ATK: 1700  
  
"What good will that do? On my next turn, that Shadow Ghoul is still toast, and so is the remainder of your life points."  
  
"Not if I can help it!" shot back Rebecca, who then drew another card from her deck. "Hmm... well, I guess there is a way to have your cake and eat it, too. Get a load of this, Geoff! I play this card, Judgement Blaster!" Rebecca slapped down the magic card onto the field and discarded five of her card to activate it. Geoff's eyes popped open as a large, pink whirlwind swept across the field, obliterating everything in its path. Sanga of Thunder was unable to weather the magic and shattered. After it faded away, Rebecca snickered.  
  
"Man, she destroyed my Sanga of Thunder. Now I won't be able to call forth the Gate Guardian," he muttered to himself.  
  
"To finish my turn, I'll lay out another card face-down," Rebecca does this, then began giggling. "Oh, Teddy, he doesn't know anything, does he? (as Teddy) Not a thing, Rebecca! Now kick the rest of his butt off! (normal) I wouldn't have it any other way, Teddy! And don't forget, Shadow Ghoul's attack power raises another 500 points for 5 sacrificed monsters!"  
  
ATK: 2200  
  
Geoff looked at the little girl oddly as he drew his next card. [That's Shadow Ghoul's getting stronger and stronger with each card Rebecca sacrifices. I need a card to get rid of it!] He looked at the drawn card and smiled. "Perfect! I'm using Reborn the Monster to revive my destroyed Sanga of Thunder, in attack mode! Slamming down the card, the Sanga of Thunder materialized onto the field.  
  
ATK: 2600 DEF: 2200  
  
"Go Sanga of Thunder, attack now!" Geoff snapped. Sanga of Thunder fired its bolts of lightning at Shadow Ghoul, but Rebecca protected herself by springing up the hidden Negate Attack. Rebecca laughed in delight.  
  
"Worked like a charm," she muttered and drew a card from her deck. "Well, well, what have we here? This is a nice magic card. I play Dian Keto, the Cure Master to reinforce my life points by 1000!"  
  
Rebecca's Life Points- 1500  
  
"And... (draws card from hand) I play Cannon Soldier, in defense mode!" The Cannon Soldier appeared on the field and pointed the large gun on it's head at Geoff.  
  
ATK: 400 DEF: 1300  
  
Geoff sighed heavily. "I wanna get rid of Shadow Ghoul, but if I don't destroy Cannon Soldier while I have the chance, Rebecca will use it to obliterate the rest of my life points," Geoff murmered, then drew a card from his deck. It wasn't what he wanted, so he added it to his hand. "Now, Sanga of Thunder, attack the Cannon Soldier with Thunder Strike!" Cannon Soldier as unable to withstand the attack and burst into pieces.  
  
"Aw, why did you destroy my Cannon Soldier?! Oh, why?! Oh, why?! Oh, why?!" Rebecca whined, then began talking as Teddy. "Rebecca, don't forget, the Cannon Soldier has been sent to the graveyard, and that gives Shadow Ghoul 100 more attack points! (normal) Oh, Teddy, thanks for that reminder. You hear that, Geoff? Because you destroyed Shadow Ghoul, its attack power is raised another 100 points!"  
  
ATK: 2300  
  
"That's nice and all, but bear in mind that it's still not strong enough to destroy Sanga of Thunder, Rebecca. Now make your move."  
  
"That I will do," Rebecca snapped and drew a card from her hand. It turned out to be a trap card known as Tribute to the Doomed. She giggled happily as slapped the card down on the card reader. "I'll play this card face-down and end my turn!" The holocard appeared face-down in the appropiate slot, therefore concealing the card underneath.  
  
"I'm surprised you'd put your Shadow Ghoul at risk, seeing as its the strongest monster you've conjured so far," said Geoff, but Rebecca shook her head.  
  
"Why should you care? What you should be thinking about is taking out my poor, defenseless, Shadow Ghoul."  
  
"You'd better be careful, Geoff. It could be a trap," chimed Ash. Geoff acknowledged the information, and Rebecca began to get mad.  
  
"Hey, you, stay out of it! This is a duel between me and Geoff!"  
  
Ash just ignored the girl. Geoff began to think over about his attack strategy. [That face-down card could very well be a trap, but how can I know? The only way to know is to attack, but I don't wanna risk my Sanga of Thunder or my life points. If I'm to merge Sanga of Thunder with Kazejin and Suijin to create the Gate Guardian, I'll need it. Perhaps a card in my deck can help.] Geoff drew a card from the deck and it turned out to be a Remove Trap. "Yes! This is exactly what I need!(slaps down card) I play this card, Remove Trap!"  
  
"Aah!!" Rebecca screeched in surprise. The Remove Trap card instantly shattered her Tribute to the Doomed, leaving Shadow Ghoul completely defenseless.  
  
"Now, Sanga of Thunder, attack Shadow Ghoul!" shouted Geoff. The thunder elemental box destroyed Shadow Ghoul with its blasts of lightning, and Geoff hooted over his victory. Rebecca was shocked, but she wasn't about to give up.  
  
Rebecca's Life Points- 1200  
  
"Yeah!! Whoo!!" Geoff screamed in glee. Ash also managed to crack a smirk at his cousin's triumph over the Shadow Ghoul, but Rebecca glared at him.  
  
"Geoff, this isn't over just yet. In case you've forgotten, I'm still dominating the match. I have 800 more life points than you at my disposal. Now, let's see what my next move will be," she said as she drew a card from her deck. After looking at it, she placed it onto the card reader. "It's not exactly what I wanted, but it's more than enough to stop you in your tracks! I play one card face-down in defense mode!" The holocard loaded the shield into battle, and Geoff laughed.  
  
"Going defensive, hunh Rebecca? I guess you aren't gonna give up?"  
  
"No! I'm not a quitter!" retorted Rebecca.  
  
"You would quit if you wanted to save yourself from embarrassment! What happened to all that tough, defiant talk you were giving when the duel first began? 'I'm gonna lose, you're gonna win'! Remeber that? I know it must be extremely embarrassing to be on the losing end when you were so sure you were gonna win!" taunted Geoff.  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Okay, if you insist," Geoff replied and drew a card from his deck. "Ah... what have we here? Remeber this card, Rebecca?" Geoff revealed the card to her, which was a Dian Keto, the Cure Master.  
  
"It's the card I used to reinforce my life points!" exclaimed Rebecca.  
  
Geoff nodded in agreement. "Uh-huh. And I'm gonna use it to increase my life points by 1000!" he slapped it down and the card immediately began to work.  
  
Geoff's Life Points- 1400  
  
"You copycat!" Rebecca yelled in disgust.  
  
"Say what you want, I don't care. Sanga of Thunder, attack Rebecca's face- down card at once!!" commanded Geoff. The monster's lightning traveled at blazing speeds towards the face-down card, which caused Rebecca to smirk.  
  
"My Shadow Ghoul may not be on the field, but I still have other cards! I'm flipping my face-down defensive monster face-up to reveal..." Rebecca did this, and the card turned out to be the rare Millenium Shield. "...The Millenium Shield!" she announced, which forced a gasp from Geoff.  
  
ATK: 0 DEF: 3000  
  
The lightning plastered into the Millenium Shield in full force, but the attack had no effect against it. "Since Millenium Shield's defense power is 3000, and Sanga of Thunder's attack power is only 2600, your failed attack costs you 400 life points!" she giggled at this turn of events, and Geoff scoffed at them.  
  
Geoff's Life Points- 1000  
  
"Smart move, I must admit," muttered Geoff.  
  
"Now it's my turn again," Rebecca stated and drew a new card from her deck. "Aah! This is perfect! Prepare yourself, Geoff, for the rebirth of Shadow Ghoul! (slaps down card) I call out Monster Reborn to bring back a deceased ghoul!" Monster Reborn's magic successfully revived Shadow Ghoul, much to Geoff's dismay.  
  
ATK: 2300 DEF: 1300  
  
"And last but not least, I play yet another Cannon Soldier in defense mode!" Cannon Soldier rose out of its holocard and took a stance.  
  
ATK: 400 DEF: 1300  
  
Geoff drew a card from his deck and smiled. He also pulled out a card from his hand and began to play them. "Rebecca, you've played a good duel. You were quite a challenge, but now, it's over. I've just drawn the cards that'll defeat you. (Rebecca gasps) First, I play this card: Raigeki! (slaps it down) Raigeki is a magic card that'll destroy any and every monster you've got put into play!" Geoff annouced.  
  
Rebecca was utterly shocked as a large green beam erupted on her side of field, obliterating every monster she had on the field: Cannon Soldier, Millenium Shield, and Shadow Ghoul. "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!!" she whined and pouted.  
  
"And now, I shall play this card called Reinforcements, which allows me to add 500 attack points on any monster I want for one turn! And I'll use this on Sanga of Thunder!" he slapped down the card, thus unleashing it into the duel.  
  
ATK: 3100  
  
"And since you don't have one monster on the field, I can attack you directly, therefore wiping you out and ending the match. Sanga of Thunder, attack Rebecca with Thunder Strike!!" yelled Geoff. His monster obeyed his commanded and fired it lightning bolts right into Rebecca, knocking her to the ground. "Ha! And that takes you down to 0!" Geoff exclaimed in glee.  
  
***Rebecca's Life Points- 0/Geoff's Life Points- 1000***  
  
"Good going, Geoff! You beat her!" cheered Ash.  
  
Geoff smiled in satisfaction. "I wouldn't have it any other way."  
  
" (beating the ground in anger) No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!! I wasn't supposed to lose, you were!! You nasty mean man!! You stole victory from me!!" Rebecca shouted and began to cry. As the field dissappeared and the systems powered down, Geoff looked over at Ash, then decided to try and cheer Rebecca up. He approached the little girl and kneeled down beside her.  
  
"Just because you lost one duel doesn't mean anything, Rebecca. We all lose sometimes, but the important thing is to swallow your pride and try again. There will be other duels, Rebecca. Just because you lost this one doesn't mean you're sunk, allright?" he said in a gentle tone of voice.  
  
Rebecca looked up at him and wiped the tears off her face. "You don't understand. I only had four stars to begin with, so now because I lost to you, I won't be able to compete in the tournament anymore. Wait a minute, we're not friends. Go away!" she threw her four stars next to him, then looked back toward the ground.  
  
Although she stepped on his foot and insulted him several times, Geoff just couldn't help showing the girl an act of compassion. He had always been a nice person who tried to help everyone, and he felt compelled to cut Rebecca some slack. He reached over and picked up two of the stars and held them in front of her. "You're not out of the tournament, Rebecca. As long as you have stars, you can compete. So here," he grabbed her hand and placed the two stars in her palm, then closed her hand into a fist.  
  
Rebecca looked at him, smiling. "You really mean it? You're giving me two of your earned stars?"  
  
"Yep. Take them," Geoff answered.  
  
"Oh, thank you, Geoff!" she got off the ground and jumped in glee. "Thank you!" she shouted and began to run off.  
  
"You're welcome," Geoff replied and watched the girl run off into the horizon, then picked up the two remaining stars and inserted them into his glove. Afterwards, he walked over to Ash. "Well, I am getting hungry. How about that lunch I was talking about?"  
  
"You bet," Ash agreed and the two began to walk off.  
  
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Brock was counting the total amount of stars he had earned while running down to the campsite. He added up a total of six stars, then placed them all into the star shaped slots on his dueling glove. He was doing pretty good in the tournament so far, and after winning a tough duel a few moments ago, Brock decided that he needed to give his brain a little rest from dueling and strategies. Once he reached the campsite, he looked around for Tristan but didn't find him. "Must be off dueling," he muttered to himself and sat down on the grass. He slipped his hand out of the glove and stored the glove in his S.C.T. Looking out over the lake, Brock decided that a nice swim would be a good way to relax his mind. After transporting some red and gold swimming trunks out of the device, he walked into his tint to put them on. After a minute or so, he came back out wearing the trunks. He stretched his arms out for a second, then prepared to jump into the water. Just as he was about to, a voice called out to him and stopped him.  
  
"Hey, Brock!" It was Tristan. He walked up to him and sighed. "What's up?"  
  
"Oh, nothing really. I just earned two stars, which gives me a total of six," Brock responded. "What about you? How are you faring in the tournament?"  
  
"I got eight stars," Tristan said.  
  
"Really? How did you manage to get ahead of me?" Brock inquired.  
  
"I won a duel with someone who had six stars," answered Tristan. "He was a pretty good duelist, but nothing that I couldn't handle. I beat him with ease."  
  
"Let me guess: that's what you was just doing?"  
  
Tristan nodded and said, "Yep. What are you about to do?"  
  
"What does it look like I'm about to do, doofus? I'm about to take a nice, calm, relaxing swim. My brain's all fried because I've been thinking heavily about dueling strategies since the start of the tournament. I need a little time away from it," Brock explained.  
  
"Oh. Well, if you wanna find me, I'll be up at the gardens foraging some fruits, allright?"  
  
"Okay. I guess I'll see you in a little while then."  
  
"Later, bro," Tristan told him and walked off in search of the gardens. Brock climbed up onto a nearby tree. He crept off onto a branch overlooking the water and sighed deeply. Then, he performed a perfect swan dive into the water below. His head popped up on the surface and he smiled. After taking a lot of strokes across the surface of the lake, he inhaled deeply and dove underwater. Meanwhile, at the campsite, Surge appeaed from behind some bushes and walked toward the tint. Tristan was off foraging and Brock was taking a good swim in the lake; the circumstances were just perfect for him to sneak in and take back his cards. Surge walked off inside the tint and began looking around for Tristan's S.C.T. To his surprise, he managed to find it! He reached down and picked the device up, then turned it on.  
  
"Please state your name and password," the computer told him.  
  
"Oh..." Surge sighed in frustration. He forgot that he needed Tristan's password in order to access his friggin' computer terminal. "I wonder what this stupid prick's password is..." Surge racked his mind trying to figure out what it could be. The computer reminded him to verify his name and password again. "Tristan Taylor, and the password is, um, swell?"  
  
"The password you have said is incorrect. Please state your name and password."  
  
"Stupid Prick! What's your password?!" Surge yelled in frustration.  
  
"The password you have said is incorrect. Please state your name and password."  
  
Some footsteps suddenly sounded. Someone was coming toward the tint! Surge quickly deactivated the machine and sat it back down where it was, then began creeping out of the tint. The footsteps were getting ever closer now, so Surge decided to duck down behind a nearby bush. Peaking over it, he saw Tristan entering the tint. "Blasted prick," he muttered to himself.  
  
"I knew I was forgetting something," Tristan's voice sounded from the tint. He then came back out wearing the S.C.T on his arm. Surge managed to hold in all the insults and anger he wanted to unleash and began sneaking off away from the campsite. That dick. Surge was extremely mad. He wanted his cards back, and he wanted them back now.  
  
Meanwhile, Brock was enjoying his swim in the lake. He swum about underwater, watching all the different specimens of fish and other types of harmless aqualife. He swam deeper into the lake and found something. It was somekind of sunken ancient plane (a miniaturized version of a 737 Boeing plane). Brock was startled, but curiosity got the best of him and he made his way toward the defunct plane. How it got in the lake he didn't know, but Brock was extremely curious as to what kind of treasures the plane coudl possibly hold in store. It didn't take Brock too long to reach the plane, and he began searching around for an entrance. He found a door near on the other side of the plane and started pulling on it. At first the door wouldn't barely open, but eventually Brock managed to snatch the door off its hinges. Deciding that he needed some more oxygen, Brock sifted through his device until he found what he was looking for. He transported a hypospray (something like the things doctors use in Star Trek) out the device and stuck it into his neck. The hypospray was known as an Oxygen Infuser. This was the new way of sucba diving. Instead of carrying a large tank on your back with all sorts of wires and gauges to monitor, Oxygen Infusers were simply a dose of oxygen that would supply the body with oxygen for up to 24 hours. You still held your breath, but it was as id you took in a breath that would last for 24 hours instead of a minute or two (also, that "tight" feeling you get when you're running out of oxygen is gone until your running out again). After doing that, Brock discarded the hypospray and swam into the plane. A couple of suit cases floated in the room, and Brock swam over to one. He grabbed it and opened it up, but nothing special was in there. Just a lot of old clothes. The other one held the same thing. Brock dropped both of those and swam over to the pilot's cabin. Nothing was inside that room, either, so Brock swam out of there and noticed some cabinets above the seats of the plane. He began to open them, but nothing but emergency equipment was inside those. Brock began to think that nothing was in the plane, but then he noticed a lever on the floor. Wondering what it was, Brock glided over to it and pushed the lever over, then a floor tile right in front of it opened up. Brock propelled himself through the hole and found a room full of gold. There was gold laying everywhere. Gold floated all over the room. There was gold lining the walls, gold all over the floors... everywhere Brock looked gold was in his eyesight.  
  
[What the... I can't believe this,] Brock thought to himself as he grabbed some gold necklaces and put it around his neck. Brock was amazed at the amount of gold in the ship. [I have to show this to Tristan.] Brock propelled himself out of the room and carefully glided through the tight vessel. Tristan loved gold jewelry, and Brock knew Tristan would be blown away by this.  
  
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Jasmine Cortez had won yet another duel. She claimed four stars from the female duelist and walked off. This added her stars up to a total of nine. Jasmine was progressing quite swiftly in the tournament. Soon, she would rescue her love from Pegasus's evil clutches and let Pegasus know not to ever mess with them again. Jasmine was determined to reached Pegasus and make him pay. [Don't worry, my dear Morty, I coming for you, and there's not a power on this earth that'll stop me. Not the duelists in the tournament, not Pegasus, not Pegasus's bodyguards, nothing!]  
  
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Maximillion Pegasus was walking through the cooridors that lead to Morty's cell. It was time to convince him to cough up the Millenium Key. Pegasus was growing rather tired of playing these games with Morty, but he had no choice. The researchers turned up nothing, and Morty was making any notions to give in and give up the key. Pegasus has learned from experience that after days and days of the correct type of torture, even the strongest of men couldn't help but give in. And Pegasus was sure that Morty couldn't hold out much longer. After reaching his cell, Pegasus ordered the guard to power down the force field. He walked inside, and smirked sinisterly at the man. "Hello there, Morty."  
  
Morty was asleep, but Pegasus's voice woke him up. He was startled as he looked up, but sighed deeply when laying eyes on Pegasus. "What do you want now? Come back to do some more of your lame torturing?" he asked.  
  
"Lame torturing? Judging by the way you look, my torturing hardly classifies as 'lame'. You can't barely hold your eyes, you don't have much of a voice to speak with, and there are pricks, cuts and bruises all over your sweaty body. That doesn't fall in the 'lame' category, if you ask me," retorted Pegasus.  
  
"Who asked you, dick? I may look like your torturing is hurting me, but it isn't. These words are coming from me, a man who has had your acts carried out on him. If I'm saying your torturing is lame, then it is. Oh, and I can't hold my eyes open because I don't go to sleep down here. I stay awake, just in case you try to sneak down here and kill me in my sleep."  
  
"Brilliant thinking, Morty-boy. There have been a few times when I wanted to come down here and slit your throat, but I restrained myself. There's no telling what might happen to me if I do that. That Millenium Key of yours could work some 'spooky' mojo on me and kill me in my sleep. Plus, if I kill you now, I may lose the secret to getting the key off your neck. Now, for today, I'll start off the same way as before: how do you get the key to come off your neck?" Pegasus inquired.  
  
Morty burst into taunting laughter. "How many times are you gonna do the same thing over and over again, Peggy?"  
  
"Peggy?!"  
  
"You know as well as I do, maybe more, that I am not going to tell you a thing about how to get the key off my neck. You'll have to do better than that," Morty jeered.  
  
Pegasus punched Morty across the face. "Silence! Stop your jeering!" he demanded, but that made Morty laughed even harder. "What's so funny, you dick?!"  
  
"You know what? You're a (laugh) you're a joke!" Morty laughed harder than before. Obviously, Pegasus's attempts of coming on serious turned out to be quite the comedic act of the year to Morty. "I've never laughed so hard in my life!" he managed to speak.  
  
"Shut up!!" Pegasus whipped out a small doll. Morty started laughed harder than ever. That is, until Pegasus pricked the doll's knee bones. A surge of pain jolted through Morty's knee, forcing him to quit laughing and let out a yelp. "In case you don't know, this is an ancient magic artifact that's been used for centuries to get a person's cooperation. It's called a 'Voodoo Doll'," Pegasus stated.  
  
"A Voodoo Doll?"  
  
"Oh, yes," he quipped sarcastically. "You see, with this little baby, anything painful that I do to this doll will cause a sudden surge of pain to erupt wherever I decided to muck. For example: your neck," Pegasus thumped Morty's thryoid gland underneath his neck, and his hurted as if Pegasus really thumped it.  
  
"Ow!" he couldn't help but wince from the pain.  
  
"Ah.. not a pleasant feeling, is it? But, it's not really happening to you. You see, that's the speciality of a Voodoo Doll. Any pain that you feel is all in your head. It's not really happening to you, but the Voodoo Doll probes your mind and forces it to think that it's actually happening. This way I can do some of the most painful things imaginable and you won't be able to die and escape it all, like you would if I actually pricked on you. Oh yes, we're about to have some fun! Now, of course, I won't just be pricking on the doll. Oh no, we're going to go far beyond that!" Pegasus yelled excitedly and pulled the head off the Voodoo Doll. Pain exploded all over Morty's head as he thought his head had been severed from the body.  
  
"AAHH!!!!!!" Morty screeched in sheer pain.  
  
Pegasus laughed evily as he began to pull the arms of the Voodoo Doll. Morty jerked and convulsed about in response to it and continued screamed in searing pain. "Oh, Morty-boy, things are about to interesting!!" Pegasus said and laughed sinsterly as he stabbed the doll in the navel with a knife. This forced Morty to bend over limply. He was still screamed in pure agony. There was nothing he could do to shut the pain out.  
  
"Please, stop! Make it.... stop!!!!" Morty hollered out.  
  
"Thought you could take anything I threw at you, Morty? You're having a change of heart now, aren't you?" Pegasus then bent the doll into a shape of a bow.  
  
"UGH!!!!!!!!" Morty moaned as he began to pass out due to the extreme pain.  
  
"Now will you tell? Now will you..." Before Pegasus could finish, his phone suddenly rang. Annoyed, he picked it up and answered it. "This is Pegasus speaking."  
  
"Sir, there's been an intruder spotted in the castle halls. He's armed and dangerous and it would be wise for you for seek shelter within the upper floors while we dispose of the threat," the guard told him.  
  
"So be it," Pegasus replied and hung up. He then stared at Morty. "You may have gotten off easy this time, but next time you won't be so lucky. Once the intruder is dealt with, I'll be back..." he walked out of the cell and put the force field back up. The pain suddenly stopped, giving Morty a chance to breath and regain his stamina and awareness. Once the Voodoo Doll was out of the same room as the target, it would no longer give pain. Morty sighed deeply as Pegasus walked off. Jasmine had to come and soon. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on...  
  
By GateGuardian 3500 ----------------------------------------- Did you like the episode? I tried to get it up here a bit sooner, but school's been hectic. Well, that's a wrap! Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll have Episode 10 up, but I'll try to get it up in about two weeks. I don't have much to say, so I guess I'm gonna go. Peace out, and have a great weekend! 


	10. Episode 10, 'Pegasus Vs Pegasus'

Well, it took me a long while, but now I have finally uploaded the next episode of my fanfic. I've been extremely busy with school, and many other things, so sorry for the long wait. (Plus my sister has become a big The Sims fan; she's been playing it like crazy for the past few weeks, which also delayed the finishing time of this episode) As you know, the tournament is of course, still going strong. So far, all the main characters are getting through it quite nicely. I have made a minor change regarding Tristan. Instead of having the Gamma Dragon cards like before, I've changed it to where he has two Egyptian God cards. Obelisk the Tormentor is one of them, and Silfer the Sky Dragon is the other. Obelisk the Tormentor is the God card Surge stole from him a while back, and Silfer the Sky Dragon is the card Surge had before Robert gave it to Tristan, along with Obelisk. I will change the previous episodes and update them with the new facts later. Now I present to you, the new episode.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 10, 'Pegasus Vs. Pegasus' (3/4/2003)  
  
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Previously...  
  
Once everyone had been escorted off the boat and onto the shore, one of the men began to speak. "Hey, listen up everybody, especially duelists, because we've got some news for you which you would wanna hear!"  
  
Everyone paused and watched as the other man started to speak. "Guess what? The brand new, Portable Holo-Duel Simulator Systems from Kaibacorp. has just been released for duelists everywhere!" he announced, which drew a lot of gasps from the crowd. "These babies boast many enhancements over the Virtual Holochip Dueling Consoles we've all come to know and love!  
  
"This is what you'll be using for the duration of the tournament, and afterwards," stated the first man. "Now, in 30 minutes," the second man spoke up, "the duels shall begin. Use this time to shape and refine your deck to the perfect configuration. When the sky light up with fireworks in the form of Pegasus, the sub-competition shall be underway.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
"This is a nice little camp you've got going here, girl," the voice, belonging to a young woman, spoke. Misty turned around, slightly startled.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so," she answered while standing up. "Who are you?"  
  
"Please, don't be so alarmed; I come in peace," the blonde chick told her, then strolled over to one of the sturdy rocks next to the hot spring and took a seat. "You seem like a pretty nice girl. What's your name?"  
  
"Why don't you tell me your name first? After all, you're the one who stumbled into my little camp."  
  
"Allright, then. My name is Mai Valentine," she stated.  
  
"Misty Chase, nice to meet you," Misty said and extended her hand for Mai to shake. She did so, then they returned their hands to their side.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Joey drew a card from his deck, then smirked and looked it Devon. "Well, Devon, you dueled pretty good for a dick, but it's over now. I'm gonna play this, Dragon Nails, which increases my dragon's attack points by 600!" Joey slammed down the card and laughed as Devon cringed.  
  
ATK: 3000  
  
"Oh, no!"  
  
"Say goodbye to Kazejin! Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack with Inferno Fire Blast!!" Joey screamed out at the monster. It immediately complied and launched a powerful fireball at Kazejin. The fireball impacted with Kazejin and ignited in flames and explosions, thus obliterating the monster.  
  
"Aah!! My Kazejin has been destroyed!" Devon exclaimed in disgust.  
  
Devon's Life Points- 200  
  
"This is just bad. I almost won this duel, but you managed to pull out that blasted Dragon Nails card to power up your dragon to 3000 points. I... give up," he stated and powered down his system. Joey was caught off-guard by Devon statement, but he wasn't surprised. Joey powered down his system also, causing all the monsters to dissappear.  
  
"Ha! I told you I'd be claiming victory. Now, cough up your two stars like we agreed, dick," Joey told him. Devon reluctantly complied and gave Joey his two stars, then began to walk away with his head lowered. He stopped and turned around to face Joey.  
  
"Listen up, Joey, just because I lost to you today doesn't make you a better duelist! Someday, I'll be back to give you crushing defeat!" he stated and walked off.  
  
"Dream on," Joey calmly replied, then faced Yugi. "Yugi, can you believe it? I just won my first duel in the tournament! Aren't you proud of me?!"  
  
"Of course I am, Joey. You've improved a whole lot since you first started dueling, and I bet that you'll get really far in this tournament, if not win it!"  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Geoff's eyes began to glow an fiery red. The Selena impersonator found herself releasing Ash although she didn't want to. "Hunh? What's this?" she was surprised. Geoff was using telekineses. He used the telekinetic power to pull Ash over to where he was standing. He then looked up toward the sky "Element of Lightning, I call upon you! Come to me!" he shouted. Suddenly, several lightning bolts struck Geoff and he began to absorb it all like a sponge absorbing water. Selena's, along with Ash's, eyes were popped open in shock. After he soaked in as much as he wanted, the lightning bolts fizzled out. His hands were sparking with electricity in them. He thrusted his right hand out and a lightning discharge jumped out of his hand and struck Selena, electrocuting her to a sizzling crisp. Her fried remains of ashes were all left of her. Geoff turned to face a shocked Ash.  
  
"Well, what's up, cousin?"  
  
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Picking up right where we left off, the tournament was nevertheless, advancing pretty quickly. Numerous duelists had been eliminated and thrown off the island, to a boat which was home bound. Of course, all the cast members are still in it, for now. At the Central Palace, Maximillion Pegasus reluctantly left Morty's cell and began running to his bedroom. Whoever this intruder was, it was going to get killed for interrupting his rather interesting torture session with Morty. The boy was beginning to crack; his body and mind was starting to wear down, especially after using the Voodoo Doll on him. Pegasus rode the elevator back up to the second floor of the palace. After it stopped, he walked out of it and headed toward his room. Walking inside, he closed the door behind him and sighed deeply. He hoped the guards would catch that scoundrel quickly so he could resume his torture session with Morty. Pegasus just knew that Morty was about to tell. He was finally about to get what he wanted after so much time, then this had to happen. Pegasus was a bit disgusted as he sat down on his bed. He ran his fingers through his long platinum hair. Suddenly, an arm lashed out around Pegasus's neck and began to choke him. Pegasus began to gag while struggling to get away. The masked figure shoved Pegasus to the ground, then walked over to the door and locked it. Pegasus scrambled for the intercom, but the figure grabbed him and pushed him onto the bed.  
  
"Long time no see, Maximillion," the voice, which sounded like a typical male, spoke.  
  
"Who.. who are you?" Pegasus asked. He didn't know who this person was, or what they wanted with him. The man pulled off his mask and revealed himself to him.  
  
"Recognize me now, brother?"  
  
"It's... it's you! Duke!" Pegasus spoke in shock. Duke smirked and approached the bed in which Pegasus lay. Duke (Devlin) was the guy that starred in the Dungeon Dice Monsters event. His black hair was combed into his regular hairstyle. He wore a black leather suit with a black shirt underneath the open jacket.  
  
"That's right, you filth. It's me, Duke Pegasus." The man whipped out his hand and began to choke Maximillion. Maximillion coughed and gagged for air as Duke glared at him angrily. "I told you that you would not get away from what you did to me. You may have covered it up from the cops, but I know what you did. You took my everything from me!" he began to choke Pegasus harder. Pegasus gagged from the lack of air and tried to pull Duke's hand away from his neck, but to no avail. Duke tossed Pegasus into the nightstand beside the bed; Pegasus knocked over the glass lamp and fell to the floor. Duke snatched Maximillion up by his hair and threw him into the nearby dresser. After falling to the ground, Pegasus looked up at the tall man.  
  
"Duke... so I'm guessing it was you who staged the whole invasion."  
  
"You're right. It was me. What are you gonna do about it, you silver-haired prick?" Duke picked up the intercom and dropped it on the floor, then stepped on it, breaking it. Pegasus's eye popped open. "You cause me so much pain throughout my entire life, dick, and now, it's payback time! Everything I've worked so hard to get, you took it from me! When we were kids, you used to steal my allowance money from me, hide it and tell our parents how I was lying on you! But, that's just petty stuff. You took my dream from me. The one invention that has caused a worldwide craze: Duel Monsters! It was my game! I invented it! I'm the man who spent countless hours laying out the ground rules, making up the monsters and fine tuning the gameplay; I did it all! Then, at the last moment, when the game was ready to be presented to the world, you locked me up in a dungeon and released it yourself! All the fame and glory you're receiving right now is supposed to be mine!! But, you robbed me of it! I couldn't tell the police what you did, because they would never believe my 'word of mouth' until I gave them some hardcore evidence, which I didn't have. So now, instead of trying to get what's rightfully mine, I've come to take you away from it," he spoke in a dark tone of voice. "Most importantly, you took my girlfriend from me. Remeber Cecilia Pegasus? She was my honey, my fiancee, and you weaved your way into her heart and took her from me! And you even..."  
  
"Duke, wait a minute!" Pegasus begged while getting to his feet. "I know what I to you did was wrong, but... I'm certainly not sorry!" he said and laughed manically. Duke charged for him, but Pegasus managed to stop him from attacking by making an offer. "Duke, just hold your horses. Now, before you began your little revenge plans, how about you consider a little deal, hmm?"  
  
"I don't wanna make any deal with you. All I wanna see is your blood leaking out of your neck."  
  
"Perhaps. But, first, I'm gonna give you a chance to get back the dream that you concocted," Pegasus stated. Duke was a little surprised.  
  
"You mean..."  
  
"Yes. I'll give up my company and I'll give you the rights to Duel Monsters and sign over its ownership to you! And most importantly, I can even manage to bring back something you hold dear to you, Duke..." Pegasus used the Millenium Eye to look into Duke's mind. "Yes, that's right. The honey that you lost, I can bring her back to you. But first, you must manage to defeat me in a duel."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I said, you must manage to defeat me in a duel. If you can beat me, I promise to give you the rights to Duel Monsters, and I'll bring back your old lover. Not so bent on killing me off right away, aren't you? You have a choice: A, you kill me now and still live without your things, or B, you accept the duel and the possibility that you get back everything you hold dear to you. What will it be, Duke?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"Allright, then, I accept your challenge. We'll have a duel, and if I win, I'll get back what I want, understood?" he inquired.  
  
Pegasus nodded confidently. "Of course. Now, whip out your deck of cards and let's get this show on the road!" he exclaimed, then began to think to himself. [Duke has no idea what he's getting himself into. He thinks he's gonna win, but he's dead wrong. I have the power of the Millenium Eye working on my side, and with it's mind-reading abilities, I simply cannot lose. Sorry, Duke, but today will be your last!] Duke transported a bag with various card decks inside. He grabbed one of them and placed the deck into the deck keeper of his platinum dueling device. Pegasus does the same (his is a velvet rose color), then they walk a good distance away from each other. Glaring deadly at each other, the two men shouted, "Let's Duel!" The Life Points meter appeared in front of them.  
  
***Duke's/Maximillion's Life Points- 2000***  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Seto Kaiba was starting to panic. If Misty won the tournament and obtained the prize money, his whole world could come tumbling down. He couldn't allow that to happen, no matter what the costs. He couldn't directly defeat Misty and get her kicked out of the tournament, because she might suspect something. He's never opposed Misty before, so doing so in a duel might lead to her finding out his dark secret. But, maybe he could find someone and have them duel Misty for him. If he could only manage to find someone powerful and skilled enough to defeat her, he could stop worrying about this. But, who could do it? And would they do it? Seto knew he would have to prepare some kind of insurance policy to persuade the person to collaborate with him. Seto immediately went in search of a possible duelist. He needed to find someone strong, someone whom he believed could take down Misty easily. Seto was so busy thinking that he didn't realize where he was going, and he ended up colliding with someone; both of them fell to the ground.  
  
"Hey, why don't you watch where you're going, you big jerk!" the woman, which was Mai, exclaimed and began getting off the ground.  
  
"Sorry, miss, but I was in a rush. I was trying to keep up with this duelist so he could give me some stars he lost to me in a duel. I didn't mean to run into you," Seto explained to her, and she seemed to accept this information.  
  
"Fine, but next time, try to watch where you're going," she said and began to walk away, but Seto stopped her.  
  
"Wait a minute! Hold on, I think I might be able to make a proposal to you in which you might be interested in."  
  
"Hunh? What proposal?" Mai inquired.  
  
"You see, there's this girl participating in the tournament. Her name is Misty Chase..." Seto was interrupted by Mai.  
  
"Hey... I know who you're talking about," she told him.  
  
"Really? You do? Well then, perhaps you wouldn't mind doing me a little favor and kicking her out of the tournament for me. I promise I'll make it worth your while," Seto offered.  
  
Mai was a bit skeptical about this, but she decided to play along. "Just what will you do to get me to duel the girl?"  
  
"I'll pay you $10,000 dollars. Defeat the girl and you'll get the money as a reward. What I want is for you to challenge her to an all-out match. Wipe her out of the tournament, and the money is yours."  
  
"Do you have the money with you? If so, show it to me," Mai demanded. Seto transported a briefcase of money out of his computer terminal and opened it. All the cash was inside, and it was all real money. Seto smirked as the Mai's eyes scanned across the piles of cash inside the briefcase, then he closed it.  
  
"Defeat the girl and this is what you'll get as a reward. Also, I'll let you have one of my cards, it's called 'Ground Collapse', and it wipes out two slots in which cards can be placed as long as its face-up on the field. Neat, eh? So, what do you say?"  
  
Mai pondered the idea for a while, then gave Seto an answer. "Allright, I'll play. But only on one condition: if I lose and she takes all my stars from me, you'll have to fork over 3 of the stars you have already to put me back in the game, understand? If you don't agree to that, then you won't receive my services," she told him. Seto acknowledged that information and nodded.  
  
"Agreed. Should you lose, you'll get 3 stars to keep you in the tournament. Thank you for your services," he said in his usual dry and deep tone of voice, then began to walk away from where he once stood.  
  
"She's probably not gonna accept a duel where if she lose she's out of the Sub-Competition, you know. From what I've seen of her, the girl plays with a level head," Mai informed him, and Seto shook his head.  
  
"Don't worry; I'll have all of that taken care of. Just meet me in 40 minutes. By then, everything should be ready." The two people parted from there original location. Seto smirked in satisfaction. Once this was done, he could stop worrying about Misty and her sisters.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Ash and his cousin, Geoff, had found a nice, quiet spot on the island in which to began Ash's tutoring: a rocky, hilly area with a cliff hanging over the ocean below. Geoff also had powers, so he could give Ash a nice bit of advice on how to control them. Ash had seated himself on one of the many giant rocks that situated themselves in this area, and Geoff stood near the cliff telling Ash about his powers. "So, basically, my power is mainly manipulating the natural physics and laws of the earth. I can do a lot of supernatural moves people normally cannot do. For example," Geoff slowly began to levitate. Ash's mouth dropped open.  
  
"You mean, you can do all that?" he wondered while in awe.  
  
"Yep," Geoff let himself float back down to the ground. "There are many other neat things I can do in that criteria, but we won't go off into all that. My other powers give me extra firepower, along with my primary power. Shooting out lightning is just a small percentage of what I am capable of."  
  
"What else can you do?" Ash asked him, but Geoff ignored the question.  
  
"Enough about me. We came up here to teach you how to channel into your powers, not turn mine into a discussion session. Now, tell me exactly what kind of power you have unleashed in the past."  
  
"Uh... I remeber I caused a small earthquake; I caused various lightning beams to descend from the sky and destroy things; I also forged a tidal wave while heading for this island. A little thing that I did was that I made my eyes hone in on a target," Ash said. Geoff abosrbed the knowledge and began to speak.  
  
"Have you had any success in recreating any one of these events again?"  
  
"Well, I did managed to summon lightning twice, but that's it. I've never been able to do anything else more than once," Ash replied.  
  
"Hmm, interesting," mused Geoff. "Get up and try to summon another lightning beam."  
  
"What? I.. I can't do that. I can barely keep them from coming out, let alone calling on them!" he exclaimed, but that did not deter Geoff from his command.  
  
"C'mon, now, get up. You'll never learn how to control them by suppressing them." Geoff watched as Ash reluctantly got off the rock. He looked up at the sky and began squinting his eyes in an effort to summon the lightning. Nothing happened, though. Ash began trying harder, but he still couldn't manage to get the lightning to appear.  
  
"C'mon..." he muttered to himself, but that didn't help the lightning bolt appear. Ash then decided to try what Geoff did moments ago and call out to the lightning. "Element of Lightning, I call upon you!" he shouted, but nothing happened. Ash sighed and turned to face Geoff. "See, nothing happened. I can't seem to make them come when I want them. They just.. come on their own." Suddenly, a bolt appeared and struck the ground directly next to Ash himself. He gasped in surprise. "Uh... well, voila! A perfect example! They just come out on their own; I can't seem to harness them."  
  
Geoff sighed heavily. "I think this might take a little longer than I thought..."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Misty was busy eating a little lunch to fill her hungry stomach.. She had two ham sandwiches with cheese and lettuce on them, along with some potato chips as a side dish. Misty knew that she had to win the prize money to help her sisters, but she wasn't sure if she could manage it. The pressure on her shoulders was tremendous. Misty wasn't sure if she could handle the fact that their lives were in her hands. What if she lost? What would she do then? Seto Kaiba had already told her that he didn't have that much money to spare, so what would she do if she happened to lose in the tournament? She didn't know, but she knew that she had to believe she would make it in the tournament. Before she could began to eat her food, a mask filled with some sedative solution came over her nose, and before she knew what was happening, she had lost consciousness. A figure began dragging Misty away...  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
***Duke's/Maximillion's Life Points- 2000***  
  
The duel had officially begun. Pegasus granted Duke the first move, so that he could use the Millenium Eye to read his mind and see what move he was going to make. Duke unwillingly fell for it too. He reached out and grabbed a card, then pulled it up to see what he drew. [Allright! Gamma The Magnet Warrior! It's not a really strong card, but if I can draw his other two counterparts, Alpha and Beta The Magnet Warrior, then I can fuse them into a powerful creature!]  
  
Pegasus was already aware of Duke's plan because he read his mind using his Millenium Eye. [Ah, a well-planned play, but it's not going to work,] he commented to himself.  
  
"For my first move, I'll lay out one card face-down in defense mode!" Duke slapped down the card, causing it to appeared in front of him face-down in the platinum light slots. Pegasus smirked because he already knew what Duke was planning. For now, he would go ahead and play along with it. Drawing a card, he placed it on his card reader.  
  
"I'll summon this monster, Witch of The Black Forest, in attack mode!" The holocard loaded and the witch appeared on top of it. She did her trademark snicker upon taking place in the field.  
  
ATK: 1100 DEF: 1200  
  
"Let's see you counter that, Dukey-Boy."  
  
"And that's just what I'll do. I switch Gamma The Magnet Warrior face-up and in attack mode!" Duke did this, and the card flickered out, then back in. It was face-up, and the small warrior jumped out of it and made a mechanical noise.  
  
ATK: 1500 DEF: 1800  
  
(Since I have no idea what its true attack could be, as it has never made an appearance it the show, I can only guess based off of what the card looks like) Gamma The Magnet Warrior, attack his Witch of The Black Forest! Smashing Metal Fist!" The small warrior extended his left hand out at the witch with amazing speeds. The fist knocked the witch's head off and she shrieked before exploding into pieces. Pegasus looked a bit surprised.  
  
"Oh my..." he gasped.  
  
Pegasus's Life Points- 1600  
  
"Your witch has been vanquished, Pegasus," Duke said in an defiant tone of voice.  
  
"Oh my goodness..." muttered Pegasus. "I don't believe how powerful your cards are. I didn't expect them to be that strong. Otherwise, I wouldn't have never challenged you to this match."  
  
However, Duke wasn't as naive as Kaiba was in the anime. He caught on to Pegasus's little act rather quickly. "Save it, Pegasus, you're a terrible actor. Just make your next move," he ordered.  
  
"Feisty, aren't we? Your honey was rather feisty. As a matter of a fact, she..."  
  
"Don't talk about my girlfriend, allright?! Just make your move!!" Duke screamed out.  
  
"Ooh, it seems we've hit a sore spot, haven't we?" Pegasus asked, then chuckled afterwards. "Allright, then Duke, if that's what you want, that's what you'll get," he told him and drew a card. "Hmm... what have we here? This is a nice card, but I don't think it'll come in handy until later. For now, I'll just lay it face-down, along with another card face-down, and another one face-up, but in defense mode. Then I end my turn and pass control back to you," The three cards all appeared in battle. The defense card was a Griggle.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 350  
  
"That little weakling, he's no match for my warrior," Duke mused.  
  
"That's true. He isn't a match for your warrior. But, I think you're missing the bigger point of why I placed this creature on the field. You see, once Griggle has been placed face-up on the field, and control passes over to you, I gain an additional 3000 life points to my bin!" Pegasus annouced, causing Duke to gasp.  
  
Pegasus's Life Points- 4600  
  
"Oh no! Your life points is now at a whopping 4600 points!" exclaimed a shocked Duke.  
  
"That's right. You can do away with it now, if you wish, because I've already gotten what I wanted from it, and that's the 3000 life point boost it gave me."  
  
Duke snarled at Pegasus's strategy. He made no comment on it, but instead sent his monster to attack it. "Gamma The Magnet Warrior, get rid of that monster now! Smashing Metal Fist!" Duke's warrior thrusted its metal hand straight into the midsection of the creature, splitting it into two before it shattered into pieces. Since it was in defense mode, Pegasus lost no life points.  
  
Pegasus giggled in delight. "Now it's my turn again," he said and drew for a card. Upon looking at it, he smiled in satisfaction. "Perfect, this is just what I needed. Dark Rabbit, in attack mode!" he slammed down the card and brought the crazy, hilarious rabbit into battle. Dark Rabbit laughed hideously as Duke and his monster.  
  
ATK: 1100 DEF: 1500  
  
"Dark Rabbit?! What's so special about that wimpy card? My magnet warrior can easily take care of it. But before I attack, I'm gonna draw a card from my deck," Duke did this and looked at the card he drew. It wasn't what he was looking for, so he just added to his hand. "Now my magnet warrior, attack the Dark Rabbit!" Duke commanded. As his monster extended his fist out, Pegasus flipped up a magic card.  
  
"Ha! You played right into my hands, Dukey-boy, for now I activate this card: Negative Energy!" Pegasus shouted. Duke gasped at this sudden turn of events. "Negative Energy is a special spell which applies only to dark type monsters. It multiplies my rabbit's attack and makes it twice as strong!"  
  
"Oh no! But that means..."  
  
"Dark Rabbit now has an attack power of 2200!" Pegasus exclaimed and laughed triumphantly. Dark Rabbit grew in size when the dark energy spell was activated. It laughed just as hideous as ever. Gamma The Magnet Warrior's punch simply bounced off the reinforced rabbit. "Now, Dark Rabbit, attack!" Pegasus spoke. The rabbit complied with him and ran toward the monster. Once it reached the warrior, it gave the warrior a barrage a punches, then finished with a giant uppercut that sent the warrior flying into Pegasus's nightstand and shattering upon impact. Pegasus laughed in delight with his Dark Rabbit.  
  
Duke's Life Points- 1300  
  
"Things are looking kind of slim, wouldn't you say, Dukey-boy?" Pegasus teased.  
  
Duke was quite surprised at Pegasus's tactic, but he knew this wouldn't be an easy task. Although Duke thought of the monsters, he didn't have much access to any of them. Pegasus, however, was the one who studied all the monsters, all the magic cards, and all the traps cards Duke created, then memorized them until he knew them all by heart. And Pegasus had added to the card database by releasing new ones that he thought of. Every strategy a duelist has ever pulled off Pegasus now knows about. Defeating him in a duel would be no easy task at all, but Duke was sure he would be the victor. He also knew a handful about Duel Monsters, seeing as he was the one who made it in the first place. "Just because you won this round Pegasus doesn't mean that this duel's yours. It's not over yet."  
  
"Oh, I beg to differ, Dukey-boy. Just look at our life point bins..."  
  
***Duke's Life Points- 1300/Maximillion's Life Points- 4600***  
  
"You're over 3000 points behind me. How do you seriously expect to catch all that up, especially while dealing with the perils my deck has to offer? Face it, Dukey-boy, you never had a chance against me before this duel even started. I won everything when we were little, and I'll win this duel too," Pegasus said.  
  
"Wrong," began Duke, "you're not gonna win anything. The winner who's gonna be walking away from here will be me!"  
  
"Ooh, a bit defiant, aren't we? I think it's about time you get taught a lesson and put back in your place, Duke. You've always been inferior to me, and this duel will prove it."  
  
"Shut it, prick! I'm not inferior to you!" Duke snapped. He was getting angry, which was Pegasus's exact intentions. Pegasus knew that Duke played Duel Monsters best with a level head, and with anger overpowering his other emotions, he was bound to be thrown off his game. Pegasus smirked deviously.  
  
"Then prove it to me and make your move," Pegasus stated, then immediately probed Duke's mind with his Millenium Eye. [Time to get an inside scoop on your strategies, Dukey-boy. And you don't have a clue as to what I'm doing,] he thought, then chuckled.  
  
[Let's see here, Pegasus has 4600 life points and a supercharged rabbit backing him up. Also, he has that other card face-down. I've got to think of a good strategy. If I draw a card powerful enough to take down his Dark Rabbit, should I attack it? What if the face-down card is a trap? On the other hand, it could just be there to distract me and give Pegasus an opening. Well, if I'm to mount any kind of strategy, I need to see what I have to work with,] Duke thought to himself as he looked through his hand. It was mostly made up of monsters that didn't have enough attack strength to defeat the Dark Rabbit. He drew a card from his deck that proved to be exactly what he needed: Jinzo. "Yes! This is perfect! I play..."  
  
"Hold it, buster!" Pegasus suddenly hollered out.  
  
"Hunh?"  
  
"Before you summon that card, we're going to play a little guessing game with it. And don't try to give me any lip, because the card I laid face- down totally supports me," Pegasus flipped the card face-up. "It's a card called Prophecy!" (Duke gasped) "And guess what it does? It allows me to guess whether the card you're about to play has an attack power higher or lower than 2000. If I guess correctly, the card you're about to play will become mine!" he yelled and began to laugh. Duke's eyes popped open as Pegasus continued on. "Now, let's see here. Do the card has more than 2000 attack points? Or less? Of course it has more than 2000 attack points because the card you're about to play is.. Jinzo!" Pegasus announced and Duke shook his head before gasping in surprise.  
  
"What the... how'd you know what card I was about to play?!" he asked.  
  
"I have my ways, Dukey-boy. Now, cough up the card!" Pegasus extended his hand out so Duke can tossed the card to him.  
  
"Wait a minute, before I do this, I wanna know: How did you know what I was about to play before I play it? However you did it, you cheated!" Duke yelled.  
  
"So? What are you going to do about it?" Pegasus quipped and giggled. "Now, abide to the rules and hand over the card!" he snapped.  
  
"Fine, then!" Duke chucked the card over to Pegasus and he caught it. "Ah... this should make a fine addition to my deck. Now, you can continue your turn, Dukey-boy," Pegasus said while adding Jinzo to his hand.  
  
[I can't believe it! How in the world did Pegasus know what I was going to play before I even put it out on the field? Maybe he's psychic or something... or maybe he's just a good guesser. No way, that can't be it. He may be good at guessing whether the card had an attack power stronger or weaker than 2000, but no one normal could guess exactly what another duelist was about to play! Something else must be going down, and I'm gonna find out what it is,] Duke said to himself.  
  
"C'mon, now, you can't wait all day," Pegasus reminded him.  
  
"I'll play one card face-down in defense mode, another one face-down, then end my turn," Duke did this, and the face-down holocards appeared in two slots in front of him. [Hopefully he'll attack the card, then he'll walk right into my trap!]  
  
Pegasus smirked deviously. [Oh, I see what you're trying to do, Dukey-Boy, you're gonna activate the Mirror Wall the moment I send my Dark Rabbit to attack, which will slice his life points in half. I'm already prepared for you,] he chuckled to himself, then drew a card from his his hand. "Hmm... I know you have the Mirror Wall card waiting for me so you can weaken my rabbit, (Duke gasped) but your plan isn't going to work. I activate this card, Remove Trap!" Pegasus slapped the card onto the reader, and the face- down Mirror Wall card instantly shattered into pieces. "Now, Dark Rabbit, attack his face-down card!" Pegasus ordered. The hideous rabbit charged for the defense monster, which turned out to be a Cannon Soldier. Dark Rabbit overwhelmed the monster with a giant uppercut which sent the monster flying into the ceiling and erupting into pieces. Duke was utterly surprised.  
  
"How... is he.. doing that? How can he know what cards I play before I play them?" Duke murmered to himself.  
  
"Ohh... Duke, what's the matter? You seem perplexed," Pegasus teased.  
  
"Shut it, dick! You're not playing this duel fairly, you're cheating somehow!" exclaimed Duke. "How can you know what cards I'm about to play before I even play them?!"  
  
"That's for me to know and for you to never find out," Pegasus told him and laughed in delight.  
  
Duke sighed in frustration. "I should've known you'd find someway to give yourself the upper hand; you've always been that way," Duke snapped and drew a card from his deck. "Finally! Something powerful enough to destroy that rabbit! I play Summoned Skull, in attack mode!" Duke slammed down the card, activating it. Summoned Skull appears on the field and let out its traditional snarl.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200  
  
"Summoned Skull, attack Dark Rabbit!" Duke yelled. His monster complied and fired an electrical charge into the Dark Rabbit's chest, causing it to shatter into pieces. "Allright! Your little cheat method didn't help you outta that one, did it, punk?!" Duke jeered at Pegasus, but he ignored him.  
  
Pegasus's Life Points- 4300  
  
"You little fool. You have no idea what you're in store for," Pegasus muttered and drew a card from his deck, looking at it afterwards. "Hmm... this is a nice little card. Duke, I think it's time you get taught a lesson for calling me a punk! Allow me to introduce you to Toon World!"  
  
"Toon World?!!" Duke was shocked as Pegasus placed the card onto his card reader. "But... that's a card so rare no one believes it exist! Most duelists think that's it's a rumor that you produced any of these cards!"  
  
"It's not good to listen to gossip, Dukey-boy, for as you'll see, it's often wrong and unrealiable! This card ought to shut you up and put you back in your place! I play Toon World!" Pegasus placed the card onto the field, and it began to load. First, a weird, black and white vortex appears in one of Pegasus's holographic card slots. Then, out popped a book that twirled around in the air, making a funny, cartoonish sound effect. After twirling for a while, it exploded in the air and pink gas erupted, along with some yellow "BOOM!" words. After the smoke faded away, a floating book with a small world inside hovered over Pegasus's slot.  
  
"I... can't believe it..." Duke's voice trailed off.  
  
"To finish my turn, I lay one other card face-down, then play this, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, in attack mode!" Pegasus slapped it down, causing the massive beast to rise out of the ground. Duke was utterly surprised.  
  
"How did you manage to get your hands on a Blue Eyes White Dragon?! There's less then ten of them in the world!" Duke yelled.  
  
"I own this game, remeber? Every card that has ever been manufactured is at my disposal, Dukey-boy, and that includes the Blue Eyes White Dragon! Now, Blue Eyes, cross the threshold into the wonderful Toon World!" Pegasus barked. Pastel pink gas seeped from Toon World and surrounded the beast, then a mystical force suddenly sucked the Blue Eyes White Dragon into the book. The book began to spin around, spewing gas once again, then out popped a hideous, warped version of the Blue Eyes White Dragon.  
  
"Ugh! What is that thing?!" asked Duke.  
  
"This 'thing' is the Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, the toon counterpart of the widely popular and coveted Blue Eyes White Dragon! And guess what, Dukey- boy, this monster is the vessel that will ensure your defeat! Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, attack Duke's measly Summoned Skull now!" Pegasus commanded. Duke watched the dragon draw in a large amount of air, filling its jaws. Then, it hurled out a large, pink energyball which struck the Summoned Skull and exploded violently and ominously. Fierce winds blew again Duke as he struggled to keep his composure. Since he had no chance to switch the monster into defense mode, he lost some life points.  
  
Duke's Life Points- 800  
  
"Only 800 life points left in your bin, Duke, compared to my 4300. Things are looking rather grim, wouldn't you say? Admit defeat," Pegasus jeered.  
  
"Never!" retorted Duke.  
  
"But, it's just your destiny to fall short when dealing with me. I always won our little fights and games we played as kids, and today's no different."  
  
"Wrong. I won't lose to you, Maximillion!" Duke shot back and drew a card from his deck. Pegasus used his Millenium Eye to hone in on Duke's strategy, of course. The card Duke drew was a Mirror Force card. [This is perfect. If I get Maximillion to attack me and I flip this up, his Toon World is done for!] "I'll set one card face-down, then play another in attack mode!" Duke placed these cards on his reader. The attack monster was a Dark Magician.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100  
  
"Ooh! A big, spooky, Dark Magician! Oh no! I'm doomed!" Pegasus began to mock the magician. "I'm sunk! The Dark Magician's gonna destroy me! What do I do?!"  
  
"Shut it, dick, and make your move!" Duke yelled.  
  
"Oh, all right. I know once I attack your Dark Magician you're gonna flip up that Mirror Force card and destroy Toon World. (Duke's eyes popped open and he gasped) So, I'll simply place another Remove Trap down on the field, and let it do the talking!" Pegasus giggled as his card activated and shattered Duke's Mirror Force card. "Now, Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, attack the Dark Magician! White Lightning attack!" Pegasus shouted. The monster drew in another breath, then hurled another energyball at the Dark Magician. The orb of power easily destroyed the Dark Magician, and it caused another life point deduction from Duke's bin.  
  
Duke's Life Points- 300  
  
"Oh, I've got you cornered now. Admit it, Duke, you're going under!" Pegasus teased and laughed in delight. Duke simply snarled in disgust.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Tristan was still filling his basket with various fruits. There was bananas, oranges, strawberries, peaches, plums, a few watermelons, and pears inside the basket. Tristan picked a few grape batches off a vine and placed them inside the basket. Deciding that was enough, Tristan began making his way back to the camp in which Brock and him were sharing. He had no idea Surge was watching him though. Surge frowned in disgust. Tristan had his God card and he wasn't going to stop until he got it back. And for compensation for his trouble, Tristan will hand him Obelisk the Tormentor also. Surge crept through the trees quietly, watching Tristan closely. How exactly was he going to get the cards? Beating them out of him didn't work, so Surge decided to settle this the official way: with a duel. While walking, Tristan heard someone call his name. He turned to see Meilin running his way.  
  
"Hey, what's up, Tristan?" she greeted as she approached him.  
  
"Not much. I'm doing good in the tournament, though," Tristan replied.  
  
"Really? That's great," she said while grabbing a plum out of the fruit basket. "You don't mind, do you?"  
  
"No, not at all," Tristan shook his head while speaking.  
  
"Um, Tristan, I don't mean to blunt or anything, but have you seen Li around here somewhere? I've been looking for him for a while now, but I haven't seen him at all. Have you seen him anywhere?" Meilin wondered, and Tristan shook his head for a negative response.  
  
"Nope. Sorry, Meilin, but I haven't seen or heard from Li since we got off the cruise ship," replied Tristan.  
  
"Oh," Meilin said then sighed. "I wonder where he could be?"  
  
"Maybe he's off dueling somewhere. Why don't you check all the more populated dueling areas around here and see if he's around?" Tristan suggested.  
  
"I've done that already. That was my first idea: go to the popular dueling sites and see if he's there. But, I didn't see him," Meilin told him.  
  
"Well, maybe you should check again. You might've missed him the first time," Tristan said.  
  
"I guess so. But, if you see him, could you send me a message (via the S.C.T)?" she inquired.  
  
"Sure. I'll keep my eye out for him," Tristan responded, then waved bye as Meilin ran off in search of Li. Tristan continued walking toward the campsite.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Li was off somewhere with Sakura teaching her how to play Duel Monsters like a master. They had decided to meet each other now instead of later like they originally planned. Sakura was sitting on a pillow while Li stood next to a tree teaching her the fundamentals of Duel Monsters. "Okay, Sakura, first off, Duel Monsters is not a one-player game. There must be at least two duelists present or else, well, playing the game gets really pointless and stupid," Li joked. Sakura giggled at his little remark before he continued. "Anyway, each duelist has a life point bin which tracks their score during the game. You began with 2000 life points by default. What do you do next?" Li asked her.  
  
"Um, you play a card, of course," Sakura answered.  
  
"Exactly. Now, to play a card, you must place it on a card reader slot. I will illustrate," he said and placed a card onto a slot on his portable duel system. However, it was deactivated, so no hologram appeared. "Once you do that, you must decide whether to play the card in attack mode or defense mode, but that's if you played a monster. It always best to play a monster card rather that a magic or trap card, because if your opponent has something to exterminate your magic/trap card, they'll use it. Once the card has been destroyed, they are free to inflict direct damage to your life points, which is very bad. Oh, and once you've played a card, you can make an additional move if you wish, or you can pass control to your opponent. Tip: When making your opening move, it's best to lay out a trap or magic card of some kind to gain an advantage. Are you getting this?"  
  
"Yeah, I understand," Sakura said.  
  
"Good. Now, monster cards are labeled with attack points and defense points. The higher the numbers, the better chance you have at keeping your monster alive. This is where part of the game in centered around. Now, if you've played your monster in attack mode, and your opponent plays a card which has a higher attack power, then they can destroy your card. Same thing goes for you, too. If you play a card with a higher attack power than your opponent's monster, you can destroy it. The difference between the two monster's attack points are then deducted out of the life points bin when they are destroyed. For example: if your opponent plays Saggi the Dark Clown, and you play Celtic Guardian, then the difference between Celtic Guardian's and Saggi's attack points are subtracted out of your opponent's life points bin. Since the difference is 500, 500 life points is subtracted, leaving them with..." Li's voice trailed off.  
  
"1500 life points," Sakura filled in the end of Li's sentence.  
  
"Exactly. Now, if you play a monster in defense mode and your opponent's monster's attack points are higher than your monster's defense points, then the opponent's monster can destroy your monster, but you won't lose any life points. That's the specialty of defense mode. Now, if the opponent's monster's attack points is less than your monster's defense points, then their attack will do no good, which leaves you room to attack them with your monster. Are you getting the basics?" Li asked her.  
  
"Yep, I get it," she replied in a chirpy voice.  
  
"All right. Now, things are about to get more complicated. Just because a monster's attack points are greater than another's attack points- or defense points- doesn't mean it necessarily have to be destroyed. There are lots of different magic and trap cards to avoid a monster's destruction, and if you have them out on the field, you can use it to save your monster from death. Some cards can juice up your monster's attack power to make it stronger than the opposing monster while it's attacking; others can negate an oncoming attack to save your monster, and some other cards can actually turned the monster's attack back on it, making it destroy itself! Neat, hunh?"  
  
"Yeah, it is," Sakura spoke.  
  
"I'm going to demonstrate this now. Would you stand up and walk other there, please?" LI requested. Sakura got off the pillow and walked a good distance away from Li, then stopped. He ordered her to activate her system, and she did. He activated his, then he drew a card from his hand. "I'll play this Flame Swordsman, in attack mode!" Li placed down the card and loaded it onto the field.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500 (DEF: ?)  
  
"Hey, play this card!" Li tossed Sakura a card. She caught it, and laid it onto her card reader.  
  
"I call on the Dragon Zombie, in attack mode!" she said and brought forth the monster. It snarled at the Flame Swordsman.  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 0  
  
"You're monster is weaker than mine, Sakura. That means I could attack your Dragon Zombie and destroy it. But, let's say you're not too excited about that plan and want to stop it," he said and tossed another card. "Play this card face-down!"  
  
Sakura caught the new card and did as Li instructed. "I'll lay this card face-down, and end my turn!" A holographic face-down card appeared in the appropiate slot.  
  
"Now, when my monster is about to strike, just flip the card face-up to activate it. Ready?" Li called. Sakura nodded her head and he attacked. "Flame Swordsman, attack the Dragon Zombie! Flaming Sword of Battle!" Li yelled. His monster obeyed him and charged for the Dragon Zombie with the sword ready for the strike. Sakura then flipped up the face-down card.  
  
"I activate this card: Waboku!" she shouted. The Flame Swordsman sliced the drago with its fire blade, but since its attack points had been lowered to 0, the attack had no effect. The attack points returned to their original value afterward, though.  
  
"Now, that move left you an opening to take down my monster. If you wanna deal some damage to my life points, you'll have to find a card which will strengthen the Dragon Zombie, or play another card altogether."  
  
Sakura drew a card from her deck, and she drew a Dragon Treasure card. "I believe this card will do the trick. I play Dragon Treasure, which raises all dragon-type monsters' attack and defense points by 300. Since Dragon Zombie is a dragon, it gets a power boost!" Sakura stated.  
  
ATK: 1900 DEF: 300  
  
"Well done, Sakura. Now, attack me," ordered Li.  
  
"As you wish. Dragon Zombie, attack Flame Swordsman with Deadly Zombie Breath!" Sakura's dragon opened its mouth and spewed an relentless onslaught of deadly breath; The Flame Swordsman fell victim to it and shattered rather violently.  
  
Li's Life Points- 1900  
  
"See? You're getting the hang of this game already," Li commented and smiled. Sakura smiled back and giggled playfully.  
  
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Misty began to arouse from her unconscious state. "Ohh..." she moaned and groaned as she sat up. Her vision was slightly blurred, so she rubbed her eyes to help clear her eyesight. Then, she looked around at her surroundings. She was in a cave like structure, and torches hanging off the wall helped light the surrounding area. She started to walk, but a force kept her foot from moving anywhere. She looked down to see that her feet where chained to the wall behind her. Her hands were too. She began to snatch on the chain vigorously. Who was behind this? Where was she? Why was she here, wherever here was, and why did they want her? All these questions raced through Misty's mind as she pulled on the chain. A voice suddenly sounded.  
  
"That won't work, little girl." The voice was of a feminine nature.  
  
"Where are you?! Come on out and show yourself!" Misty demanded.  
  
"Oh, I will, after you agree to a little something for me," she replied.  
  
"I'm not agreeing to anything unless you show yourself!" Misty demanded hostily. Footsteps began echoing off the cave walls.  
  
"Okay, if you insist," the woman spoke, then walked out from behind a nearby rock. Misty's eyes opened and she gasped upon laying eyes on the woman. The woman approached Misty and smirked. "Hello, little girl. Remeber me?"  
  
"Mai Valentine?! Wha... w.. why are you doing this?! Let me go at once!" Misty snapped coldly.  
  
"Why should I? So you can run and never return? We're going to have a little duel, Misty, and the winner is the only one that can advance into the main tournament."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"We're gonna have an all-out match, winner take all. You have six stars and I have nine. Add it up, and your total is fifteen stars, which is, if I recall correctly, the amount of stars required to enter the main tournament. We're gonna bet all our stars on this match, and whoever wins is the only one who can advance," Mai offered.  
  
"What makes you think I'm gonna risk everything on a single match? I'm not betting all my stars on one match. And for your information, if you wanted a duel, all you had to do was ask me for it, not drag me down here!" Misty yelled.  
  
Mai gagged in disgust. "Ugh... I knew you'd be too chicken to accept this kind of duel. Well, since you want to be stubborn, it looks like I'll have to resort to my backup tactics to crack you," she spoke in a icy tone of voice.  
  
This caught Misty's attention. "Backup tactics? What's that?" she asked.  
  
"Wanna find out? Believe me girl, it isn't pretty. Unless you want me to use those on you, I suggest you accept this duel. Now, what's your response?" Mai inquired in a serious tone of voice. Misty wasn't sure what she should do. First off, she didn't know Mai was crazy enough to pull a stunt like this, but since she showed her true colors, Misty didn't want to fool around and see what the backup tactics were. Also, this could get her into the main tournament quickly. She was a pretty good duelist, and if she beat Mai, she would advance. But, what if she didn't? Then, she would be out of the tournament. This was a tough decision for Misty to make. Should she accept the duel, or should she reject it? Misty was leaning more toward accepting the duel, because rejecting it meant Mai would enforce those blasted backup tactics, and Misty did not want to find out what they were. She would just have to take the risk.  
  
"Allright, Mai, I accept your duel. We'll have an all-out match, and whoever wins goes on to enter the main competition. Now, get me off this wall!" she barked.  
  
"Feisty, aren't we? Well, since you accepted, I have no choice but to let you down. But, you'd better not try to run off," Mai threatened.  
  
"Believe me, I'm not. I'm gonna take great pleasure in knocking you out of this tournament," Misty told her. Mai released Misty off the wall and whipped out her dueling device. Misty did the same, and the two girls powered them up. [I hope I can do this. Winning this match means I will have accomplished my first objective in my quest to save my sisters,] Misty thought.  
  
[Once I win Misty's six stars, I can then enter the tournament and stop worrying about surviving this mini-contest. Once my place in the main competition in set in stone, I can began wokring out a plan to take down Pegasus and put him behind bars, where he belongs,] Mai thought to herself. Both women looked at each other.  
  
"Let's Duel!" they both shouted.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
"Why don't you just give up?" Pegasus jeered and giggled at Duke.  
  
"I'm never gonna give up to you, Pegasus. And I'm not gonna lose to you, either," Duke quipped, then drew for a card. "Kuribo, in defense mode!" Kuribo loaded in after Duke slammed down the card.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 200 (DEF ?)  
  
"Kuribo?! Is that the best you can do? Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, blow away that pathetic card! White Lightning attack!" Pegasus shouted. The dragon reared back and drew in a large amount of breath, then launched another energyball at the Kuribo. Of course, Kuribo was no match for the attack and a huge explosion erupted, destroying the monster. Duke lost no life points, though. "C'mon, Duke, don't waste everybody's time by throwing monsters in defense mode. Give up and accept your place as the inferior Pegasus," Maximillion taunted him. But Duke didn't listen.  
  
"I won't ever surrender to you, punk!" Duke snapped angrily.  
  
"Then gather every last bit of your strength, Duke! Give me all you've got! It won't do any good, but at least you can go out in a blaze of glory!"  
  
Duke rolled his eyes and drew for another card. He got another Cannon Soldier. [Ohh... I can use this card to stage a possible comeback. All I need is a good magic card of some sort so Pegasus's Blue Eyes Toon Dragon can't destroy it, then on my next turn, I can sacrifice another monster and attack his life points directly!] Pegasus already knew what Duke was planning and was ready to counter it, but Duke didn't know. "I'll play one monster face-down in defense mode, and then I'll play another card face- down!" Duke slammed down these cards, which brought about the face-down holocards. Pegasus giggled playfully.  
  
"Oh, what you're planning to do is a good move, Duke, but I'm already prepared! See, I know your face-down monster is Cannon Soldier, and the other face-down card is Negate Attack. You were hoping I would make my Blue Eyes Toon Dragon attack your soldier so that you could activate Negate Attack, then you was going to to play a monster and sacrifice it to Cannon Soldier, so that it could attack me directly! Good move, Dukey-boy, but it's not gonna work! (Duke is in utter shock) First, I play this card, Red Archery Girl, in attack mode!" Pegasus's creature jumped out of the holocard and snickered playfully.  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1500  
  
"Then..." he drew a card from his hand and slapped it down onto the card reader. "I'll play this magic card called Brain Control!"  
  
"Oh no! Brain Control?!" Duke gasped.  
  
"Oh yes, Brain Control! With this card, I can control one of your monsters for a turn, and I'm going to take control of your Cannon Soldier!" Pegasus yelled as Cannon Soldier sunk back down into it's holocard, then the card floated over to Pegasus's side of the field and released the Cannon Soldier back onto the field. "And now, Phase 3 of my brilliant turn has me sacrificing my Red Archery Girl to power up the Cannon Soldier, give it a chance to strike!" Pegasus announced triumphantly. Duke's eyes was bucked open as he realized what was happening. He had lost... Long, metallic spikes jarred into Red Archery Girl, destroying her. Her shattered pieces flowed over into Cannon Soldier, which powered it up. It pointed the large gun on the top of its head at Duke.  
  
"It's over... he beat me..." Duke's voice trailed off.  
  
"See? What did I tell you, Dukey-boy? I told you I would be the victor in this duel. Since Cannon Soldier can attack you directly, it can bypass that Negate Attack card you have laying on the field. And, since it takes off 400 life points, and you only have 300... do the math. I think the rest will explain itself. You lose, Dukey-boy! I've always been superior to you in everything, and Duel Monsters is no exception. Time to finish you off! Cannon Soldier, attack Duke directly!" Pegasus snapped. Cannon Soldier fired off its shot and struck Duke in the chest, knocking him to the floor and finishing the match.  
  
***Duke's Life Points- 0/Maximillion's Life Points- 4300***  
  
"Wow! Look at the difference in our life points! You're down to 0 and I have a whopping 4300 life points left over!" Pegasus exclaimed as the holograms began dissappearing. "It's really a shame that throughout the entire duel, you only managed to destroy two of my monsters! Just two! You suck when it comes down to you vs. me. And, I said you wouldn't defeat me and you didn't. Once again, I had the upper hand over you like I always have."  
  
Duke snarled at Pegasus angrily while standing up. "You cheated, you stupid bastard. There's no way anyone can defeat you if your probing their mind somehow to get an inside scoop on their every thought and strategy, then you counter it perfectly! If you dueled fairly, you would've been crushed!" he snapped.  
  
"Is that so? Even if I hadn't used my resources on you, I still would've beat you," Pegasus retorted.  
  
"Oh, yeah? How about we have another go at it and you play fairly this time around?!" Duke suggested.  
  
"I have a better idea. I think it's time to punish you for intruding in my palace and disrupting some important business. You may not believe it, but I'm going to suck your soul out of your body and into a nether realm better known as, the Shadow Realm!" Pegasus yelled as he prepped his Millenium Eye. Before he could began though, Duke grabbed a lamp off his nightstand and threw it into Pegasus's chest, knocking him to the ground.  
  
"Curse you, Pegasus! This isn't over!" he yelled and dove out of the window. Pegasus got off the floor, ran over to the window and bent over, looking down at the ground below. There was no sign of Duke; all Pegasus saw was numerous trees. "Darn! I've got to find him! He knows things and he could spill them..." Pegasus immediately paged his guards.  
  
"Yes, Master?" answered one.  
  
"The intruder is gone. He just dove out of my bedroom window," informed Pegasus.  
  
"Oh my goodness, are you okay, Master Pegasus?" asked the guard.  
  
"Yes, but you must find him, quickly! He must not get away! Report to my bedroom and I'll give you a detailed description of him!" Pegasus ordered.  
  
"Yes, sir. We're on our way," the guard replied and hung up. Pegasus sighed heavily. Duke could not get off this island. He knew a little too much, and if it got it to the wrong indiviuals, he could be ruined.  
  
Ending Discloser.  
--Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500-- I hope it was good. If it has any typos in it, please forgive me. Yes, I know Mai is being a bit on the devious side, but this is an alternate reality fic, and when I do these types of books, sometimes I alter the character a little and make them do things they normally wouldn't do. Sorry if I offended any Mai fans, but it's a good twist, don't you think? The next two episodes will be a two- part event, and it will main center around Misty and Mai's duel. Who will emerge victorious? Also, I apologize again for the long wait. Things have been quite hectic lately, and since my sister has taken a huge liking to the The Sims, it's going to be a bit tougher to find time to write any episodes. I will try, though. I'm not going to give an estimate of when the next episode is supposed to be posted, because honestly, I don't have any idea myself. I will try to update it sooner than this episode, but don't get your hopes up. My life moves quickly, I'm often busy, and I have little time to write the fanfic, but I will write anyway. Peace out! 


	11. Episode 11, 'The Victory Goes To, Part 1

Oh, yeah! I'm back again with an all-new episode of Duelists of The Future. I just realized that it didn't take me two weeks to get this episode up! That's a first! Well, actually, the first time I uploaded an episode before two weeks passed was when I uploaded Episode 03. It was uploaded the day after I first uploaded the book. That was only because the majority of the episode had been typed, though. All I had to do was finish the last scene and make a few finishing touches. Anyway, I don't have anything else to say, so I'll just let you go on and read the episode. Hope you enjoy it!  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 11, 'The Victory Goes To... Part 1' (3/13/2003)  
  
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Previously...  
  
The masked figure shoved Pegasus to the ground, then walked over to the door and locked it. Pegasus scrambled for the intercom, but the figure grabbed him and pushed him onto the bed.  
  
"Long time no see, Maximillion," the voice, which sounded like a typical male, spoke.  
  
"Who.. who are you?" Pegasus asked. He didn't know who this person was, or what they wanted with him. The man pulled off his mask and revealed himself to him.  
  
"Recognize me now, brother?"  
  
"It's... it's you! Duke!" Pegasus spoke in shock.  
  
"You took my girlfriend from me. Remeber Cecilia Pegasus? She was my honey, my fiancee, and you weaved your way into her heart and took her from me! And you even..."  
  
"Duke, wait a minute!" Pegasus begged while getting to his feet. "I'm gonna give you a chance to get back the dream that you concocted," Pegasus stated. Duke was a little surprised.  
  
"You mean..."  
  
"Yes. But first, you must manage to defeat me in a duel."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I said, you must manage to defeat me in a duel. If you can beat me, I promise to give you the rights to Duel Monsters, and I'll bring back your old lover.  
  
"Allright, then, I accept your challenge. We'll have a duel, and if I win, I'll get back what I want, understood?" he inquired.  
  
Pegasus nodded confidently. "Of course. Now, whip out your deck of cards and let's get this show on the road!" he exclaimed.  
  
Long, metallic spikes jarred into Red Archery Girl, destroying her. Her shattered pieces flowed over into Cannon Soldier, which powered it up. It pointed the large gun on the top of its head at Duke.  
  
"It's over... he beat me..." Duke's voice trailed off.  
  
"See? What did I tell you, Dukey-boy? I told you I would be the victor in this duel. Cannon Soldier, attack Duke directly!" Pegasus snapped. Cannon Soldier fired off its shot and struck Duke in the chest, knocking him to the floor and finishing the match.  
  
***Duke's Life Points- 0/Maximillion's Life Points- 4300***  
  
"Curse you, Pegasus! This isn't over!" he yelled and dove out of the window. Pegasus got off the floor, ran over to the window and bent over, looking down at the ground below. There was no sign of Duke; all Pegasus saw was numerous trees. "Darn! I've got to find him! He knows things and he could spill them..."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Seto Kaiba: "Whatever I do, I've got to find a way to knock Misty out of the tournament. If she manages to save her sisters, they're gonna rat me out, and I'll be finished!"  
  
"Perhaps you wouldn't mind doing me a little favor and kicking her out of the tournament for me. I promise I'll make it worth your while," Seto offered.  
  
Mai was a bit skeptical about this, but she decided to play along. "Just what will you do to get me to duel the girl?"  
  
"I'll pay you $10,000 dollars. Defeat the girl and you'll get the money as a reward. What I want is for you to challenge her to an all-out match. Wipe her out of the tournament, and the money is yours. What do you say?"  
  
Mai pondered the idea for a while, then gave Seto an answer. "Allright, I'll play. But only on one condition: if I lose and she takes all my stars from me, you'll have to fork over 3 of the stars you have already to put me back in the game, understand? If you don't agree to that, then you won't receive my services," she told him. Seto acknowledged that information and nodded.  
  
"Agreed."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Before she could began to eat her food, a mask filled with some sedative solution came over her nose, and before she knew what was happening, she had lost consciousness. A figure began dragging Misty away...  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
The woman approached Misty and smirked. "Hello, little girl. Remeber me?"  
  
"Mai Valentine?! Wha... w.. why are you doing this?!"  
  
"We're gonna have an all-out match, winner take all. You have six stars and I have nine. Add it up, and your total is fifteen stars, which is, if I recall correctly, the amount of stars required to enter the main tournament. We're gonna bet all our stars on this match, and whoever wins is the only one who can advance," Mai offered.  
  
"What makes you think I'm gonna risk everything on a single match? I'm not betting all my stars on one match. And for your information, if you wanted a duel, all you had to do was ask me for it, not drag me down here!" Misty yelled.  
  
Mai gagged in disgust. "Ugh... I knew you'd be too chicken to accept this kind of duel. Well, since you want to be stubborn, it looks like I'll have to resort to my backup tactics to crack you," she spoke in a icy tone of voice.  
  
This caught Misty's attention. "Backup tactics? What's that?" she asked.  
  
"Wanna find out? Believe me girl, it isn't pretty."  
  
"Allright, Mai, I accept your duel. We'll have an all-out match, and whoever wins goes on to enter the main competition."  
  
Mai released Misty off the wall and whipped out her dueling device. Misty did the same, and the two girls powered them up. [I hope I can do this. Winning this match means I will have accomplished my first objective in my quest to save my sisters,] Misty thought.  
  
[Once I win Misty's six stars, I can then enter the tournament and stop worrying about surviving this mini-contest. Once my place in the main competition in set in stone, I can began wokring out a plan to take down Pegasus and put him behind bars, where he belongs,] Mai thought to herself. Both women looked at each other.  
  
"Let's Duel!" they both shouted.  
  
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Brock propelled himself through the hole and found a room full of gold. There was gold laying everywhere. Gold floated all over the room. There was gold lining the walls, gold all over the floors... everywhere Brock looked gold was in his eyesight.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
"C'mon..." he muttered to himself, but that didn't help the lightning bolt appear. Ash then decided to try what Geoff did moments ago and call out to the lightning. "Element of Lightning, I call upon you!" he shouted, but nothing happened. Ash sighed and turned to face Geoff. "See, nothing happened. I can't seem to make them come when I want them. They just.. come on their own." Suddenly, a bolt appeared and struck the ground directly next to Ash himself. He gasped in surprise. "Uh... well, voila! A perfect example! They just come out on their own; I can't seem to harness them."  
  
Geoff sighed heavily. "I think this might take a little longer than I thought..."  
  
|-----------------------------------------|  
  
Brock was going to head back up to the surface, but he changed his mind at the last minute. He turned around and swam back toward the sunken plane. Once he reached the entrance, he glided inside and manuevered through the tight room en route to the storage room full of gold. Once he reached the trapdoor, he swam through the opening. All the gold was still there, of course, and he began to explore the room even further. He swam out to the middle of the room and grabbed some of the gold chains and rings floating in the water. He put them on and smirked. The gold was really beautiful, and Brock began to get some ideas about what he could do with it. He could possibly open up a gold shop and sell all this gold to help pay for his father's operation and the medical bills from it. As Brock started to swim back out the room, something caught his eye. It was another lever attached to a wall. He propelled over to it and pulled it, opening another door. Brock swam through the newly opened doorway and saw a pedestal sitting in the middle of the room. A glass container sat on top of the pedestal holding an ancient object inside. The object was a crystal orb. Curious, Brock approached the container and picked it up. There wasn't anyway to open the container except breaking it. Brock was confused by this, because if there wasn't a way to open the container, how did the object get inside?  
  
[Oh well, however it got inside, time to bust it out,] Brock thought to himself and threw the container toward the floor with all his might. The container broke into pieces, and the object began floating up toward the ceiling. Without warning, a brilliant, yellow light shined throughout the entire plane, and Brock shielded his eyes to keep from being blinded. A small, white cloud (for lack of a better term) rose out the orb as the light faded, then threw itself into Brock. It entered into his body, but he wasn't aware of it. After the light faded away, Brock removed his arms from around his eyes.  
  
[What happened?] Brock wondered. Before he could began to think on the subject further, sudden pain erupted in his abdomen area. Brock's face cringed as he grabbed his stomach. The pain forced him to grit his teeth. More pain began to erupt in his chest, and he clinched it tightly. Brock tried his best to hold in the scream. His body began to convulse violently, and searing pain began to develop in his hands, arms, legs, and feet. The pain in his chest and abdomen increased, and he couldn't hold it in any longer. "AHH!!!" he yelled in pain. Bubbles emerged from his mouth, and the abrupt movements of his body caused bubbles to form in the water. His body continued to convulse violently as Brock began passing out from the pain. His body suddenly stopped moving and Brock started floating toward the floor of the room. Before he reached it, his body began to convulse again. He was simply convulsing in the middle of a submerged room, unconscious...  
  
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Geoff sighed and sat down on a rock. Ash's training had so far been unsuccessful. Ash had absolutely no control over his powers; he had no idea how to start harnessing them or controlling them. Geoff's mother had trained him to control his powers, so he remebered a lot of the things his mother taught him and said to him. Ash's inner essence must've been split, or distorted. Something had to be distracting him, but what? Geoff looked up at Ash who was standing near the cliff. "Well, Ash, it seems as though you're off."  
  
Ash turned around and popped his eyes open. "Off? What do you mean, off?"  
  
"Not off, like, 'crazy in the head' off, but um, more like 'not concentrating; mind somewhere else, distracted' off. If you want to learn how to control your powers, you're gonna have to pull yourself together and concentrate," Geoff said.  
  
"I am 'pulled together'," countered Ash.  
  
"Oh, yeah? Then how come you can't control yourself, hmm?" Geoff inquired.  
  
"Control myself? I am fully capable of controlling myself, Geoff. Am I trying to run off the cliff screaming 'The moon is producing cosmetic waves? They're all around me, choking me'? I think not," Ash retorted. "I am in full control of myself..." Suddenly another lightning struck from the ground and destroyed a tree. Ash stood there with a dumbfound look on his face.  
  
"You were saying?" Geoff stared at him with an intimidating look on his face. Ash's face began to turn red from embarrassment.  
  
"Stop looking at me right that!" he exclaimed and looked down at the ground.  
  
"Hey..." Geoff began as he stood up, "it's nothing to be ashamed of. I know you need help controlling your powers, and I'm gonna help you, allright?" he said while approaching Ash. "Now, perk up. When my mother was training me, I had difficulty, but I didn't give up. I kept trying over and over again until I mastered them. You can do the same."  
  
Ash looked up from the ground. "I guess you're right. What are we going to do, now?"  
  
"Well, I think some meditating is in order. C'mon," he answered and began leading Ash to his tint. This would take a while, but Geoff knew that Ash would eventually began to master his powers. As long as Ash stayed determined and refused to give up, he had a chance of controlling the gift within him. Once they arrived at his tint, Geoff led Ash inside. His tint was quite spacious for a tint, but it was nothing remarkable. Geoff took a seat on his folded sleeping bag and instructed Ash to sit down on the grass.  
  
"Don't I get a bag to sit on, too?" Ash objected.  
  
"Just sit. So what if you get grass stains on your butt."  
  
"So what? You're not the one who's going to be sitting on this hard ground for two hours with their eyes closed. You're probably gonna be playing some kind of portable game to pass the time," Ash quipped while sitting down in the grass.  
  
"The thought had crossed my mind," Geoff commented. "Now, make sure you're in a position that you like, make sure it's comfortable too, so that you won't have to shift positions during the meditation," Geoff said. Ash tried out various positions and ended up choosing an indian style sitting. "Good. Now, close your eyes."  
  
Ash slowly closed his eyes and sat very still.  
  
"That's right. Sit still and don't move," Geoff said somewhat soothingly. "Just let your mind flow... free. Try to forget everything around you, try to forget everything you hear and just concentrate on the darkness you see in front of you," Geoff continued. Ash sat on the ground with his eyes shut tight. He didn't budge. "Now, try to forget about everything. Don't think about anything: music, people, bugs, trees, food, technology, nothing. Don't even think about the sounds around you. Don't think about your heartbeat, the grumbling noise your stomach might make, or even my voice," Geoff told him.  
  
"Well, you know, that's kinda hard to do if you're talking," Ash snapped sarcastically.  
  
"Fine, then, I won't say a word. I'll just shut up. But, remeber what I said," Geoff ordered, then sat back down on the bag. Ash tried to relax his mind and forget about anything and everything. The sounds of his breathing, the thumping of his heart, Geoff's movements, everything. He didn't think about his mother and what happened to her, he didn't think about Pegasus. Ash tried not to think about anything. He tried to free his mind of all thoughts and concentrate on "restoring his inner balance" as Geoff said.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Li was still training Sakura. She was starting to grasp the more advance tactics of Duel Monsters, but she still had a long way to go. Li still admired how quickly she was catching on to it, though. After spending enough time with him, she would be dueling like a pro in no time. Li was leaning back on a tree, looking through Sakura's deck of cards. After flipping through all of them, he handed them back to her. "Well, what do you think?" wondered Sakura.  
  
"It's... pretty good. It's a bit on the weak side, though. You have plenty of good magic cards and quite a few traps, but you don't have enough muscle or firepower in your deck. All your monsters are rather weak. Heh, your strongest card is Dark Magician Girl. Hey, since I have a couple of decks, I'll juice up your deck for you," Li offered.  
  
"You will? That's really sweet of you," Sakura commented. Li grinned and took her deck of cards. He then pulled out one of his, then started to swap cards between the two. "Um, you're not destroying my deck, are you?" Sakura asked.  
  
"Just the opposite," Li replied and continued revamping Sakura's deck. Sakura was a bit anxious to get her deck back, but she waited patiently. To pass time, she started walking back and forth. Li ran across a Dark Rabbit card in her deck. He shook his head. "This is one card that can be discarded..."  
  
"No, don't get rid of that card!" Sakura exclaimed. Li's left eyebrow raised up. "A friend of mine gave it to me. Don't get rid of it," she said.  
  
"I wasn't going to get rid of it. It's just my personal opinion that the card should be disposed of. It's really weak," Li responded.  
  
"Well, maybe at first, but if you add the magic card Negative Energy to it, it's attack power will be doubled, raising it to 2200. I use that combo often in a duel," Sakura explained.  
  
"Really? Who taught you that one?"  
  
"The friend of mine," Sakura answered, then quickly added, "He's gone now, so I'd really appeciate it if you didn't ask me anything about him."  
  
"All right, I won't say anything about him," Li assured her, then finished remodifying the deck. "All right, check this out," Li handed it back to her. Sakura grabbed the deck and started looking through it, aweing at various cards in the process. Li smiled as he watched the girl. It didn't take her too long to go through the deck. She looked up at Li and smiled.  
  
"Wow, thank you, Li!" she exclaimed happily.  
  
"You're welcome. Now, put your cards away, and let's continue your Duel Monsters lessons," Li told her. She slipped the deck into her pocket, then sat down on the pillow she had been sitting on before. Li began going over what he taught her to make sure she was listening, then began to teach her some more.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Time passed, and Brock was still convulsing and shaking violently in the room. He had been down there for quite a while now, and it looked like his body was showing no signs of stopping. Suddenly, it stopped convulsing. His body slowly floated down to the floor of the room and layed there limply. It looked as though no life was inside him. Was he dead? The teenage boy slowly began coming to. He groaned as he began sitting up, then he realized that he was still underwater. Panic struck him, and he began racing back toward the entrance of the ship. Brock noticed that he felt very different on the inside, like something had happened to him while he was unconscious. Also, he realized that there wasn't any built up water in his lungs. There wasn't any water in his mouth either... and his eyes no longer tingled. He could see just as clearly underwater as he could on land...  
  
"What the..." Brock inadvertantly spit out, then it dawned on him that he just spoke clearly while underwater. A few bubbles appeared from the air coming out of his mouth, but no water flowed back in. "What's going on?" the boy was freaked and a bit scared as he looked down at his hands. Nothing was apparently different on the outside of his body, but Brock could feel that something was off inside. He took in a large amount of air, and no water gushed through his lungs. He stretched his mouth wide open, and no water rushed down his throat. "What's happened to me?" Brock was baffled. How on earth was he able to speak and talk while completely submerged in water? No human had ever done this before without technology... Brock decided that he needed to get out of the plane and get back to the surface. He started propelling himself out of the room. He continued navigating through the rooms, breathing without any oxygen equipment. He knew he had to get some answers to his questions. But where could he get them from? No one alive knew anything about this type of stuff, so how was he going to figure it out? Brock sped through the waters at rapid speeds. He reached the surface of the lake; his head sprung out the water. Since he had been breathing underwater, he didn't need to take a breath. What had happened to him? What would possibly happen to him? How did he get like this, and where could he find his answers?  
  
"Maybe..." Brock's voice trailed off as he looked around. "I don't know what to do. I really don't want Tristan to see me right now, because if he found out, he might not want to be friends with me. He might think I'm somekind a freak -which I am- and he probably wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore..." a voice called out to him, which made Brock turn. It was his friend Tristan.  
  
"Hey, there Brock! I didn't see you when I returned back here and I started to think something was wrong. Did you enjoy your swim?" he asked him while biting into an orange.  
  
"Uh... yeah, it was... interesting..." Brock responded. It was certainly interesting. It was a bit too interesting.  
  
"Um, where'd you get those chains? If I recall correctly, you weren't wearing any when I talked to you."  
  
"I.. got it out of my device and I put it on, simple. I like wearing chains, even while I'm swimming," Brock rushed out nervously. Tristan didn't notice the nervousness in his voice and shrugged.  
  
"Oh. Well, c'mon out of the lake, I wanna talk to you," he told him.  
  
"Uh... well, actually.... actually I was planning on going for another good swim. It's helping me.. to relax my mind," Brock spoke. "It was rather fun observing all the different types of species and creatures that abide underwater. If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to it."  
  
Tristan sighed heavily. "Man, I really wanna sit down and chat with you. C'mon, I won't talk for long."  
  
"I still wanna swim, Tristan," Brock objected.  
  
"Fine. Since you still wanna go swimming, and I wanna talk to you, how about you wait for me to change into some swimtrunks so I can join you? I already have the equipment needed to communicate while underwater with me, so how about it? That way both of us are getting what we want," Tristan offered.  
  
"Uh... okay," Brock agreed reluctantly.  
  
"All right, just give me a minute to change. I'll be right back," Tristan requested, then walked off into his tint to change into the swimtrunks. Brock used this as an opportunity to get away. He quietly sunk down into the water, then took off toward the sunken plane. Brock wasn't sure about what happened to him, and he didn't want anything weird to start happening while Tristan was with him. If Tristan found out about his condition, he'd probably consider him a freak. Brock continued swimming back where the plane was, hoping he had made a clean getaway. About a minute later, Tristan came out of the tint wearing some ocean blue trunks.  
  
"Okay, Brock, let's..." Tristan's voice trailed off as he saw nothing there. "Brock? Brock, where are you?!" Tristan called, but no answer was returned. Tristan ran over to Brock's tint and looked inside, and he wasn't in there. "Where did he go? Why did he take off? Well, maybe he's hiding in the lake," Tristan wondered. He took a deep breath, then ran and jumped into the lake. Now submerged, Tristan began swimming away from the surface. He had no idea where Brock dissappeared to. Tristan swam over to a large area of sea plants and began looking through them, figuring that Brock was hiding in them. He wasn't there, though, so Tristan continued deeper into the lake. There was so much area to try and search that it would be nearly impossible to find the boy. Tristan gave up and started swimming back up toward the surface. He emerged from the water and took in a few deep breaths, then sighed heavily.  
  
"Where did Brock dissappear to?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his hair tightly and pushed him back underwater. It was... Surge!  
  
"All right, punk, hand over those two Egyptian God cards, or else, I'm gonna drown ya'," he threatened. Tristan tried to wrestle his way out of Surge's grip, but Surge's had tangled his hand through his hairs tightly, trapping him. There was nothing he could do...  
  
Meanwhile, down at the sunken crash site, Brock approached the door. Unaware of what was happening to his best friend, Brock opened the door and glided inside. He sighed deeply. "Well, I've gotta start my search for answers somewhere, might as well start looking in this plane. Since the plane had that strange orb in the room, it stands to reason that there may be something around here that'll help me figure out what happened to me," Brock said to himself. He could still breathe and talk underwater just fine. He began combing the aisle of seats carefully, looking for anything that could help him. There was various luggage bags floating around the room. Brock grabbed one of them and opened it up, then began rumaging through it. He started pulling the contents out of the bag. All sorts of outdated clothes found its way into the aisle. Other assorted things were combs and brushes, a toothbrush, a couple of cds, which was now consider extinct and old, and weave hair. Brock sighed in frustration. There was nothing there. He threw that bag aside and picked up a nearby suitcase, searching through it. The suitcase mainly had the same things inside: toothbrushes, combs, clothes, etc. Lots of different perfumes and cologne bottles were tossed aside. Once Brock finished searching the suitcase, he had found nothing. He immediantly went and grabbed another suitcase floating about. Nothing revelant was in there, either. It was more of the same things found in the other suitcases. Brock searched through every suitcase and bag he could find, and nothing was in them that could help him.  
  
"Darn!" Brock threw the last suitcase down in frustration. It hit the floor, bounced up to the ceiling, then fell to the floor again in about two seconds. Brocks eyes bucked open in amazement. "Now I know something's off with me!" he exclaimed. Brock swam over to the trapdoor he had opened earlier and floating down into the gold room. Wondering that something could be under the gold, Brock started throwing the gold out into the middle of the room, hoping that some kind of answer would be awaiting him. Brock searched all over the room, but unfortunately, nothing was found. It was only one room left to search now, and that was the room which held the ancient artifact. There wasn't anything in that room except for the shattered pieces of glass, and the pedestal in which the glass box once sat on, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Brock propelled himself into the room and carefully scanned the walls. Nothing was on them, so he scrutinized the pedestal. After close examination, Brock found a small inscription on the pedestal. Perhaps this could shine some light on what happened to him! Brock began to read it aloud.  
  
"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."  
  
Brock's face began to fill with worry and despair. Whoever stored this object had clearly experienced what could happen. What if something happened to him? Although it told him not to touch it, it didn't tell him what would happen should he break the object free. The inscripton didn't answer any of his questions, but only brought more. Brock was dejected as he floated down to the floor and lay there. He wasn't ever going to find out what happened to him, what would happen to him, or how he could stop it. What would become of him?  
  
Surge was still holding Tristan underwater. Tristan couldn't get away from Surge because his hand was tangled in his hair. He quickly dug his hands into Surge's hand and started drawing blood. "AHH!!" Surge screamed and released his grip. He screamed in agony as Tristan surfaced, taking in large amounts of breaths. He immediately climbed out of the lake and glared at Surge. Surge stopped screaming and stood up.  
  
"Well, well, Tristan, I see you're not going to give up the cards without a fight," Surge said. "You could just hand the cards to me and make things easier for both of us, but since you insist on taking the hard way out..." Surge was interrupted by Tristan.  
  
"You're not getting the cards back, dick. They're mine now, and I'm gonna make sure it stays that way."  
  
"Getting full of yourself, aren't you, prick? You should know not to get bold with the leader of the gang, fool. I could have my henchmen kill you where you stand," Surge threatened.  
  
"Then why haven't you, hmm?" Tristan asked. "I know why. Because I have the upper hand over you. You may want to kill me, you may have the resources necessary to kill me, but you know that if you kill me now, you'll never get the cards. They're safely snuggled away in my S.C.T, dick, and you don't know the password needed to gain access to them. If you want those cards, you're gonna have to do better than this," Tristan teased. Surge threw a jab at Tristan, but he blocked it and countered with a punch in the face. Tristan kicked at Surge. Surge ducked and tripped Tristan, causing him to fall. He then lashed out and started choking him.  
  
"Give me those cards, now!!" Surge snapped. Tristan spit in his face, then hit him in the face with a solid punch, knocking the guy off of him. Tristan flipped to his feet. He tried kicking Surge while he was on the ground, but Surge grabbed Tristan's foot and flung him over into a nearby rock. Tristan hit his head and fell to the ground, then Surge stood. He snatched Tristan up by his hair and pushed him back to the ground. He ran over and kicked Tristan in the side, then pulled him up and punched his face, making his stumble back. Tristan collected himself and evaded Surge's roundhouse kick, then countered with a spin kick in the face, followed by four swift punches in the stomach and a roundhouse kick that sent Surge crashing to the ground. Tristan yanked him up and slammed his forehead into the same rock, dazing Surge. He lifted his knee up and hit Surge's chin with it, then tossed Surge back toward the tints. Surge rolled on the ground and tried collecting himself while Tristan was coming. He succeeded, and got to his feet. Tristan threw several punches at Surge, but he blocked them all and tried kicking Tristan's chest. Tristan grabbed his foot and punched his ankle harshly, then pushed Surge down on the ground. He tried kicking Surge in the side, but Surge blocked the kick and tripped Tristan. He jumped to his feet and jumped again to dodge a trip from Tristan, then delivered a brutal punch to Tristan's stomach. Tristan hollered out in pain from the blow, and Surge punched him a few more times in the abdomen, all the punches being brutal. Tristan coughed from the blows. Surge picked him up and punched him five times in the face, six times in the chest, then jumped in the air and delivered a swift triple kick in Tristan's face, causing him to crash on the ground. Tristan coughed up blood out of his mouth and started trying to get up. Surge simply kicked Tristan in the ribs as hard as he could, damaging one of them.  
  
"Why don't you just give me the cards, punk?!" Surge yelled and punched Tristan's chest. Tristan groaned from the hit, but he wouldn't give in to Surge's attacks. "Why don't you make this easier for both of us, hunh, Tristan? Just give up the cards," he said. Tristan didn't make a motion to get the cards, so Surge kicked his side again. "Give me the cards!!!" he screamed in frustration. "You know what, if you won't give me the cards, I'm gonna go ahead and kill you anyway. Since I can't enjoy them, you won't either," Surge told him, then snatched him off the ground and headed back to the lake. He walked until he was near the edge and put Tristan right on the edge. "Give up the cards, punk."  
  
"No," Tristan replied flatly, then swiftly kicked Surge in the nuts. He grabbed his areas and began sinking to the ground in pain.  
  
"Ahh..." Surge groaned as he fell to his knees, still holding his nuts. The pain was very intense. Tristan punched Surge in the face, then kicked him, making him fall onto his back.  
  
"Like I said before, you're not getting my cards," Tristan spoke, then began kicking Surge repeatedly in the side. On his fourth kick, something blocked it. Tristan looked and saw Vicki standing by Surge. "Where'd you come from?!"  
  
"You're gonna pay for beating up my boss like this!" she said and charged for him. Tristan ran away from the lake, heading back toward the tints, where there was room to fight. He turned around and took a fighting stance. Vicki came at him and threw multiple punches at him. Tristan managed to dodge five of them, but the sixth punch caught him in his jaw. Vicki kicked Tristan in the stomach, then roundhouse kicked him in the face, forcing him down. She grabbed Tristan back up and delivered seven hard punches to his face, then jumped up and delivered a double roundhouse kick to his face. Tristan fell onto the ground weakly. She then yanked him up by the neck and dragged him over to the lake.  
  
"What do you want me to do with him, boss?" she asked.  
  
"Just... kill him. I'll see if I can hack into the device later," Surge told her.  
  
"Okay," she replied, then took some handcuffs out of her device and put them around Tristan's hands and feet. Tristan was too delirious and too weak to even attempt resisting her, so she got them on with ease. "Sayonara, Tristan Taylor," she said and prepared to drop him into the lake. A voice suddenly sounded though.  
  
"Tristan!!" yelled Brock. He ran as fast as he could toward Vicki, but that made her drop him to the water with haste. She, along with Surge, cackled evily. Surge crawled over to the edge and looked down in the lake, watching him drown.  
  
"You're too late, punk!" Vicki taunted, then took a fightning stance. Brock approached her and dodged a punch from her, then uppercutted her in the chin. She soared high into the air before falling back down onto the ground. The fall knocked her unconscious. Brock ran toward the lake and dove in. He stepped on Surge's back in the process. Tristan tried his best to free himself, but he was far too weak to break away from the restraints. He continued falling down toward the bottom, unable to free himself. Brock swam down toward Tristan, rapidly catching him. He reached out and grabbed him to break his fall, then started pulling on the handcuffs. He snapped them with ease, then snapped the cuffs on his feet. Since Tristan was still weak and somewhat delirious, Brock grabbed him and started swimming back toward the surface. Eventually, the two boys emerged from the water. Tristan took in deep breaths of air, but Brock didn't need any. Surge and Vicki had dissappeared. Brock swam over to the edge and layed Tristan on the ground, then climbed out of the lake himself. He kneeled down beside Tristan.  
  
"Are you all right, Tristan? What happened?" Brock asked him.  
  
Tristan moaned while sitting up slowly. "Uh... I.. I came out of the tint so I could swim with you but you had dissappeared. I, uh, looked for you in the lake, but I didn't find you. So, as I emerged from the water, Surge tried to hold me under. I got away, then we chatted a little before fighting. He got me good eventually, but I kicked him in the nuts. Then, his associate showed up and she laid into me. Then, they dropped me in the water. Then, you came. Why did you run off?"  
  
"Uh... I was trying to play hide and seek, like we used to when we were kids. I was nearby, and I thought you were gonna find me, but you didn't," Brock ushered out. He helped Tristan off the ground and walked over to the tints with him.  
  
"But, if you were nearby, why didn't you help me fight?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"I wasn't nearby like that. I was just... uh, l-let's get you patched up," Brock said quickly. Tristan decided to drop the subject for now, and the two boys walked off into Tristan's tint to patch him up.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Yugi and Joey had decided to take a small break from dueling. They were down by the shores relaxing and thumb wrestling. Joey was the victor. "Ha! Ha! I win, you lose!" he exclaimed happily. Yugi sighed while rolling his eyes.  
  
"I hate that stupid game. You always win," he said.  
  
"Well, that's because I'm a good thumb wrestler."  
  
"No, you always win because your thumbs are so much bigger than mine. I'm a midget and I have small thumbs, but yours are big, which make them overpower mine easily," complained Yugi.  
  
"Ah, your thumbs are not that smaller. You're just not trying hard enough to win. C'mon, let do it again. I bet if you actually concentrated and tried to win you would," Joey suggested, but Yugi shook his head.  
  
"Been there, done that, still the same result. Let's find something else do to. I know! Let's play Rock-Paper-Scissors!" offered Yugi. Joey's facial expression took on an annoyed, agitated look.  
  
"Now, that is one stupid game," he quipped.  
  
"Aw, c'mon, Rock-Paper-Scissors is fun!" Yugi tried convincing Joey to play the game, but he refused. "Aw, Joey, you're being a spoilsport!"  
  
"I'm not being a spoilsport! What's so fun about playing that stupid, rotten, hideous game? It's so dumb and boring," Joey argued, then layed back on the mat he was sitting on. "I'd rather lay up and look at the sky all day than play one round of that game."  
  
Yugi decided to throw in the towel on that matter. "Fine, fine, no Rock- Paper-Scissors then," he said and layed back on his mat also. "Wanna make out shapes in the clouds?"  
  
"Nah, actually, I want to see Misty. It's been over three years since we last seen each other, and since she was dueling in the tournament, I thought for sure we would talk together and keep in touch," Joey said.  
  
"Well, this is the tournament, you know," Yugi reminded him. "So she probably around the more popular dueling areas claiming some stars."  
  
"But I checked around there for her, and I didn't find her. I don't know where she dissappeared to. I even checked out her campsite, and guess what? She wasn't there. I really want to talk to her. We used to have so much fun just talking to each other back in the day," Joey told him.  
  
"She's must be off dueling somewhere," guessed Yugi.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Seto took the stars from a duelist and walked away. He knew that Misty and Mai's duel should be starting sometime around now, so he decided to peak in and see what was going on. Seto made his way back to the cave where they was and peaked inside. The two women were standing opposite of each other with their dueling system powered up. The duel was about to start. Seto's eyes narrowed and he tightened up a bit. If Mai didn't win this, it was highly possible that he was doomed.  
  
***Mai's/Misty's Life Points- 2000***  
  
Mai and Misty glared at each other and waited for one to make the first move. Mai looked over her hand, and decided to make a move. (By the way, her deck will be modified some) "I guess I'll be the one to make the move, then." She picked a card from her hand, and placed it on the digital card reader. "My first move is, Harpie Lady, in attack mode!" Her standard monster jumped out of the holocard and took its place on the field, smirking at Misty.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1400  
  
"And, I'll lay one other card face-down on the field," she smirked while doing so, then looked up at Misty. "It's your turn, now."  
  
"Good," Misty spoke, then began to think. [I've got to be at my best if I'm to have any chance at winning this duel. I hope I can do this. There's just so much riding on this forced duel, though. If I lose, my sisters are doomed. I can't allow that to happen! Whatever happens, I have to win! My sisters are depending on me, and I can't let them down!] Misty thought to herself, then drew a card from her deck. [I don't know what the face-down card could be. It may be a trap, or something else altogether. Nevertheless, I should dispatch a monster with just enough power to defeat Harpie Lady in battle. That way, if Mai's card is somekind of trap, I won't lose a worthy card.] "I play Red Archery Girl, in attack mode!" Misty slapped her card onto the card reader, thus bringing the creature into battle.  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1500  
  
"Attack Harpie Lady!" Misty commanded. Her monster snickered as it raised its bow and arrow to attack. It fired an arrow at Mai's monster, but she was prepared.  
  
"A direct assault, hunh? Well, let's see how well your attack stands up to this. I activate my magic card Cyber Shield, to power up my Harpie Lady with 500 attack points!" Mai announced. This startled Misty a little, but not much. After all, she was sort of expecting it.  
  
ATK: 1800  
  
The arrow struck Harpie Lady right in the chest, but it simply bounced off the golden shield the monster had been equipped with. "Now, Harpie Lady! Attack Red Archery Girl with your Cyber Slash!" Harpie Lady carried out Mai's command and slashed the mermaid, causing it to shatter into pieces.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 1600  
  
Mai chuckled silently. [If Misty keeps up this type of dueling, this'll be over in a few short moments,] she smirked, then began to reach for a card. Upon drawing one, she looked at it, then decided to play it. "I'll go ahead and set this out for later," she placed down the card, then smirked at Misty. "It's all yours, now."  
  
"And I'm gonna make the best of it, too," Misty remarked and drew a Beaver Warrior out of her hand. "I summon the Beaver Warrior, in attack mode!" Misty slammed down the card, loading the small rodent-type monster onto the field. It snarled and growled at Harpie Lady.  
  
ATK: 1200 DEF: 900 (DEF ?)  
  
"And I'll add on this magic card: Horn of the Unicorn to raise it's attack power by 700 points!"  
  
ATK: 1900  
  
"Before I attack, I'm gonna lay down a card face-down. (did this) Now, Beaver Warrior, attack Harpie Lady!" Misty shouted. The small warrior powered up a lightning bolt and discharged the bolt at Harpie Lady. However, Mai was prepared again.  
  
"Not so fast, Misty! I activate my hidden magic card, Negate Attack!" Mai flipped her card face-up, causing a bluish wormhole to appear in front of Harpie Lady. The Beaver Warrior's lightning bolt flew into the wormhole, then the wormhole closed up. Beaver Warrior's attack power returned back to tis original 1200. "After I lay down this card face-down, your Beaver Warrior's gonna get a taste of my Harpie's claws. (laid the card down) Harpie Lady, attack it with Cyber Slash!" Mai's favorite monster flew toward Beaver Warrior while preparing her claws.  
  
"You forgot about my face-down trap card, which I'll activate right now. I play Waboku!" Misty turned over her face-down which immediately went to work. Waboku reduced Harpie Lady's attack power down to 0 while it was attacking; it attacked Beaver Warrior, but the attack had no effect against it. Harpie Lady's attack power returned to its original 1800, but Mai's turn was already over. "Ha! Thought I was gonna stand there and let you take out another monster, huh?"  
  
"Just make your next move," Mai said flatly.  
  
Seto was still watching the duel from a distance. "Allright, Mai, don't start making any screwups. You cannot let Misty win this duel, or else it could be all over for me. You have to beat her," he muttered to himself.  
  
The duel was still going strong. It was Misty's turn, of course, and she decided to make the best of it. After drawing a card from her deck, she started to think about possible dueling strategies. [Let's see here. Mai only has one monster out on the field, and that's Harpie Lady. She's not that strong, but the problem is that Mai keeps laying out face-down cards on the field. I have no way of knowing what to prepare for. Well, I think it's time I played a stronger monster.] "First, I'll switch my Beaver Warrior into defense mode (did this), then I summon the Dark Magician Girl, in attack mode!" After placing down the card, the cheery, female counterpart of the Dark Magician took its place on the field.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1800  
  
"Let's see what you're up to, Mai. Dark Magician Girl, attack Harpie Lady!" Misty yelled. The magician raised her staff into the air and fired a pastel pink energy beam at Harpie Lady. While the attack was heading its way, a crystal wall suddenly sprung out the ground and blocked the path. "What's that?!" Misty wondered aloud as the Dark Magician Girl's attack struck the wall, but it didn't manage to scratch the surface. "Where'd that wall come from?!"  
  
"This wall is the hidden trap I had set up on the field. It's called Mirror Wall, and its special ability is to block all attacks that come its way. Also, the attacking monster's attack and defense power is reduced in half," Mai told her. Misty frowned at this turn of events.  
  
ATK: 1000 DEF: 900  
  
"Neat, hunh? Now your Dark Magician Girl's just a big target for my Harpie Lady. Cyber Slash!!" The wall lowered back into the ground, allowing Harpie Lady to attack. The monster slashed the Dark Magician in the midsecton, and the magician exploded into tiny pieces which vaporized in the air. Misty snarled in digust.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 800  
  
"Can't take the heat, Misty?" Mai asked her.  
  
"Don't talk to me like we're friends, you stupid heifer!!" Misty shouted, and Mai frowned.  
  
"You nasty, scrawny wench! You'd better watch your mouth, 'cause I'll knock it off!" she yelled back angrily.  
  
"You think so? Well, come and get me," Misty dared her. Mai just scoffed and turned her nose up at Misty. "What's the matter, Mai? Thought you could beat the crap out of me?"  
  
"I'm not coming over there, girl. Not only do I know that I can beat the stuffing out of you, but I've got better and more important things to do right now than to get all bloody. Go ahead and make your move, little girl," Mai said.  
  
Misty rolled her eyes at her and drew a card from her deck. She looked at it, then added it to her hand. She drew another card from her hand and placed it on the card reader. "Water Omotics, in defense mode!" (it loaded)  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200  
  
"Until I can mount a strategy against Mai, the best thing for me to do is go on the defensive," Misty murmered to herself.  
  
"Guess there's nothing else you can do, hunh? I've left you no way to attack," Mai spoke. She drew a card from her hand and looked across the field at Misty. [I've got the girl on the run now. She's on the ropes, and I've gotta keep her that way. I shouldn't play Elegant Egotist yet. Instead, I should play Rose Whip. That'll give my Harpie's Lady 300 extra attack points. Afterwards, I'll play Elegant Egotist.] Mai put the card she had back in her hand, then grabbed another card and slapped it onto the card reader. "For my turn, I'll play this magic card called Rose Whip to boost my Harpie Lady's attack strength by 300!"  
  
ATK: 2100  
  
"Now, go forth and attack Water Omotics! Whiplash Attack!" Rose petals fell off the whip as Harpie Lady whipped it around, then she lashed out and struck Water Omotics with it. Misty's monster shattered into pieces. "Ha! That's one monster down! Soon I'll take out Beaver Warrior, then I'll take you out!" Mai yelled and cackled in glee. Seto's face began to lightened up at the events taking place. He smirked deviously. If Mai kept this up, Misty would be out of the tournament, and he could stop worrying about her saving her sisters.  
  
"Grr... what can I do to turn this around? Mai's stupid Mirror Wall prevents me from attacking her, while she's free to do whatever she wants to. Also, she keeps powering up the Harpie Lady further and further with every turn. I've gotta stop it, somehow," Misty said to herself. She drew a card from her deck, then placed it onto the card reader. "Armed Ninja, in defense mode!" One of the weakest creatures in all of Duel Monsters loaded onto the field in a kneeled position.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 300  
  
Mai burst into laughter. "Is that all you've got to offer?! That wimpy little ninja? C'mon, tell me you can do better than that!"  
  
"What's the point in me playing a valuable monster when I have no way of attacking your stupid Harpie Lady, huh? I don't care how weak it is or how wimpy it looks. It's defending my life points, which is all that matters. Why don't you keep your dumb opinions to yourself?" Misty retorted.  
  
"I say whatever I wanna say, even if it offends you!" Mai shot back.  
  
"Well, at least I'm not the one chickening and hiding behind a crystal wall like you are. I thought you were some sort of big bad or something, but you're really just a chicken who can't play the game without having something to hide behind. Why don't you come out from behind that wall and we go at it face-to-face?"  
  
"That's your prerogative, twerp. I'm not chickening behind anything; you're just saying that because my strategy is a good one and you don't life being beaten by it. This next move oughta shut your mouth!" Mai snapped and picked a card from her hand, placing it down on the card reader. "I play the magic card Elegant Egotist to triple my Harpie attack force!"  
  
"Triple it?!" Misty exclaimed in surprise. A yellow light began to surround the Harpie Lady. Moments later she was engulfed in the light, and that's when the duplicating process began. Two new Harpie Ladies appeared beside the first one, then the light faded away. Three Harpie Ladies were now on the field, and they smirked at Misty and her monsters.  
  
ATK: 2450 DEF: 2100 (DEF ?)  
  
"There's three of them!" Misty quipped.  
  
"That's right. And now, I'm gonna attack your Beaver Warrior! Harpie Ladies, combine your powers and attack Misty's warrior!" The three Harpie Ladies began to power up a charge. A small, yellow light connected to each Harpie's claw, forming a triangle. Within the yellow triangle appeared a giant, red X. "Exteminator attack!!" May shouted triumphantly. The Harpie Ladies unleashed the fierce attack on the Beaver Warrior and utterly obliterated the monster. Fortunately, since it was in defense mode, Misty lost no life points.  
  
"At least I didn't lose any life points from that attack," Misty said to herself.  
  
"You'd better be glad that your Beaver Warrior was in defense mode, or else, you would've just been exterminated from the tournament. Go ahead and make your next move, little girl," Mai said with pure confidence in her voice. She was sure she would come out the victor in this duel. Misty drew a card from her deck. It turned out to be a Mirror Force card.  
  
[All right! This is exactly the break I've been looking for! With Mirror Force, I can turn Mai's next attack against her and destroy her Mirror Wall with it, or possibly her monster! Whatever happens, it's sure to give me some kind of advantage.] "I'll lay a card face-down on the field, then I summon..." she pulled a card out of her hand and slapped it onto the field. "...The Legendary Fisherman, in defense mode!" Her two cards loaded into the duel.  
  
ATK: 1850 DEF: 1500  
  
[All right, Mai, do me this one favor and attack,] Misty thought to herself. Unfortunately for her, Mai was planning something else.  
  
"Hmm.... this is the first face-down card I've seen you play in quite a while, Misty, which leads me to believe that it might be a trap. But, what if it's not? It could just be something you're playing in an attempt to throw me off my game."  
  
"Well, it seems to be working. In the entire duel, you never really thought about the current situation on the field, you just moved," Misty quipped. She hoped that Mai declared an attack on her.  
  
"I can't be exactly sure as to what you're planning. It may not be a trap at all, but it could very well be. I knew a situation like this would present itself sooner or later, which is why I came prepared. I don't know if the face-down card is a trap card or not, but it's better to be safe than sorry. For my turn, I'll just play the card I kept in my hand until the time came for it: Harpie's Feather Duster!" Mai slammed down the card, forcing a gasp from Misty.  
  
"Oh no!" [Harpie's Feather Duster is gonna destroy my trap!] she exclaimed to herself. The first Harpie Lady was armed with special wings, which she used to create a powerful tornado to extinguish Misty's trap card. The tornado hit the face-down holocard and shattered it into pieces. [No! Mai just eliminated my Mirror Force card!]  
  
"And now, I'm gonna play another monster," Mai said and pulled another card out of her hand. "I also held back this card until the time came for it, which it has. The monster which I hold in my hand is the faithful, devoted servant and pet of my Harpie Ladies. Prepare yourself to meet: the Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai slapped down this card, bringing forth the dragon in battle. A loud boom sounded, and the monstrosity took a stance on the field, breathing smoke out of its mouth.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1700 (DEF ?)  
  
"My favorite thing about Harpie's Pet Dragon is that it gains an additional 300 attack points for every Harpie Lady on the field. There's three of them, of course, so do the math, and Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack power figures up to..."  
  
ATK: 2900  
  
"2900!!" Mai annouced and laughed in delight. Misty frowned in disgust, though. "And now I'm gonna blast that weak fisherman of yours to the ever- popular graveyard! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack The Legendary Fisherman with Fearsome Fire Blast!!" Mai commanded. Her dragon raised it head in the air to gather a large breath of fire, then spit it out at the fisherman. Misty's creature was no match for the fire, and it ended up being caught and incinerated in a huge explosion that blew gusts of winds at Misty. She didn't lose any life points because it was in defense mode. Mai laughed even more.  
  
"This is getting bad..." Misty said to herself.  
  
Off in the distance, Seto Kaiba smirked in satisfaction. "That's right, Mai, keep sockin' it to her! Once you defeat Misty and knock her out of the championship, I can stop worrying about my life being ruined by her sisters, and go on about my business."  
  
"Harpie's Pet Dragon sent that fisherman back to the sea!" Mai laughed in glee. "Misty, I think you should go ahead and concede the match. My strategy in simply unstoppable. My Mirror Wall protects my monsters and weakens yours if they try to attack, and so far, none of your monsters defensive power can stop my monsters, especially Harpie's Pet Dragon."  
  
"I'm not giving up!" Misty yelled back at her.  
  
"You're not? Okay, it's all up to you."  
  
Misty drew a card from her deck. [Ooguchi! This little creature can attack Mai's life points directly. But, I know the moment it gets done attacking her, she's gonna send either the Harpie Lady Sisters or Harpie's Pet Dragon to obliterate it, therefore knocking me out. I guess I'll just play this in defense mode.] "Ooguchi, in defense mode!" After placing the card down, Misty's creature materialized onto the field.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 250  
  
"Another wimpy monster. Is that all you have? I don't see how you managed to get six stars with these lackluster cards. But, that's not my concern. First I'll lay a card face-down, then I'll waste your Ooguchi! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack it!" Mai shouted. Ooguchi was no more once the dragon's flames reached it and obliterated it. "Misty, why don't you just give in already? There's only so many monsters which can defend your life points. Once you run out, what are you going to do then?"  
  
"That's my problem, not yours!" Misty retorted, then slapped a card onto the card reader. "I summon Koumori Dragon, in defense mode!" The dragon loaded onto the field and growled ferociously, but Mai wasn't phased.  
  
ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200  
  
"Goin' on the defense again? Well, I would send my monsters to attack you right away, but I just got another idea. You may have been able to play monsters in defense mode, but not anymore! (Misty gasped) I'm activating my face-down card, the Gorgon's Eye!" Mai turned the card over, activating its effect. "In case you don't know, Gorgon's Eye is a special trap card which turns all monsters you play into stone!" The creature snapped its eye open and stared at Kourmori Dragon. All of a sudden, the monster changed into a stone version of Kourmori Dragon, just like Mai said.  
  
"And.. here's the best thing about Gorgon's Eye. Not only is it a permanent trap card- meaning it'll never leave the field until I call it back- but once a stone monster has been destroyed, half of its defensive power will be deducted from your life points! (Misty gasped again) And now, Harpie Ladies, Exterminator Attack!" The three sister combined their powers once again to forge the giant X, then launched it at the stone style Kourmori Dragon. The red tore through the monster and shattered it into tiny pieces. "There goes 600 of your life points!" Mai exclaimed, then laughed in delight.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 200  
  
"Oh no... this is not my lucky day," Misty muttered. "Mai's strategy seems unstoppable. Her Mirror Wall card prevents me from attacking any of her monsters. If I try, not only will it stop them, but it'll drain them of half their attack and defense powers, making them big targets for her monsters. Now she's played Gorgon's Eye, which stops me from defending my life points. If I play a monster in defense mode anyway, her eye will simply turn it into stone, and when she attacks the stone monster, half its defense points get subtracted from my life points. With this strategy, she's knocked my life points down to a scarce 200, and at the same time, she's managed to keep a perfect score. I haven't touched one of her monsters. Soon it'll be all over. I... I've failed my sisters..."  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
(Ending Discloser Below.)  
--Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500-- Well, I hope that was a good one. I'm sorry if it was somewhat shorter than the other ones. How will Misty get out of her predicament? So far, it seems as though Mai has a big advantage over her. Will she get out of this, or will she fail? What's wrong with Brock? Why is he suddenly able to do supernatural things? Also, just how far will Surge go to get the God cards, and will he ever get them? Will Ash learn how to harness his powers? Only time will tell... Hopefully I'll have the next episode up in about two weeks, but that's if I'm not busy. If I am busy, it'll take me longer to finish it. Well, that's all I have to say. Take care! 


	12. Episode 12, 'The Victory Goes To, Part 2...

Uh-huh. You know what time it is, right? I've gotten a brand spankin' new episode of Duelists of The Future waiting on you! I've been majorly busy, and haven't had much time for anything, so please forgive me for the lack of updating. Plus, to add to it, I stumbled up on a bit of the infamous Writer's Block. I knew what to do with the story itself, I knew who was (or should I say, is) going to win the duel, I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to execute it. But anyways, I worked through it, and now I have a new episode to present. Hopefully it'll be up to par to the last episodes. I believe it is, but I can never know what people will think about it until they tell me. Last time, Misty and Mai squared off, and Mai was crushing her. Can Misty possibly turn the duel around? And what's with Brock and his newfound abilites? Go ahead and read on. Note: Brock's ordeal won't be revealed until later. It's not time just yet.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 12, 'The Victory Goes To... Part 2' (4/13/2003)  
  
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Previously...  
  
"That's right. Sit still and don't move," Geoff said somewhat soothingly. Don't even think about the sounds around you. Don't think about your heartbeat, the grumbling noise your stomach might make, or even my voice," Geoff told him.  
  
"Well, you know, that's kinda hard to do if you're talking," Ash snapped sarcastically.  
  
"Fine, then, I won't say a word. I'll just shut up. But, remeber what I said," Geoff ordered, then sat back down on the bag. Ash tried to relax his mind and forget about anything and everything. He tried to free his mind of all thoughts and concentrate on "restoring his inner balance" as Geoff said.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
The container broke into pieces, and the object began floating up toward the ceiling. Without warning, a brilliant, yellow light shined throughout the entire plane, and Brock shielded his eyes to keep from being blinded. A small, white cloud (for lack of a better term) rose out the orb as the light faded, then threw itself into Brock. It entered into his body, but he wasn't aware of it. After the light faded away, Brock removed his arms from around his eyes.  
  
[What happened?] Brock wondered. Before he could began to think on the subject further, sudden pain erupted in his abdomen area. (time passed; he had fallen unconscious, then awakened) Brock noticed that he felt very different on the inside, like something had happened to him while he was unconscious. Also, he realized that there wasn't any built up water in his lungs. There wasn't any water in his mouth either... and his eyes no longer tingled. He could see just as clearly underwater as he could on land...  
  
"What the..." Brock inadvertantly spit out, then it dawned on him that he just spoke clearly while underwater. A few bubbles appeared from the air coming out of his mouth, but no water flowed back in. "What's going on?" Brock could feel that something was off inside. He took in a large amount of air, and no water gushed through his lungs. He stretched his mouth wide open, and no water rushed down his throat. "What's happened to me?" Brock was baffled. (Later) He scrutinized the pedestal. After close examination, Brock found a small inscription on the pedestal. Perhaps this could shine some light on what happened to him! Brock began to read it aloud.  
  
"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Seto Kaiba: "Whatever I do, I've got to find a way to knock Misty out of the tournament. If she manages to save her sisters, they're gonna rat me out, and I'll be finished!"  
  
Mai: "We're gonna have an all-out match, winner take all. You have six stars and I have nine. Add it up, and your total is fifteen stars, which is, if I recall correctly, the amount of stars required to enter the main tournament. We're gonna bet all our stars on this match, and whoever wins is the only one who can advance."  
  
***Mai's/Misty's Life Points- 2000***  
  
"My first move is, Harpie Lady, in attack mode!" Her standard monster jumped out of the holocard and took its place on the field, smirking at Misty.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1400  
  
"And, I'll lay one other card face-down on the field."  
  
"I play Red Archery Girl, in attack mode!" Misty slapped her card onto the card reader, thus bringing the creature into battle.  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1500  
  
"Attack Harpie Lady!" Misty commanded. Her monster snickered as it raised its bow and arrow to attack. It fired an arrow at Mai's monster, but she was prepared.  
  
"A direct assault, hunh? Well, let's see how well your attack stands up to this. I activate my magic card Cyber Shield, to power up my Harpie Lady with 500 attack points!" Mai announced. This startled Misty a little, but not much. After all, she was sort of expecting it.  
  
ATK: 1800  
  
The arrow struck Harpie Lady right in the chest, but it simply bounced off the golden shield the monster had been equipped with. "Now, Harpie Lady! Attack Red Archery Girl with your Cyber Slash!" Harpie Lady carried out Mai's command and slashed the mermaid, causing it to shatter into pieces.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 1600  
  
"What's that?!" Misty wondered aloud as the Dark Magician Girl's attack struck the wall, but it didn't manage to scratch the surface. "Where'd that wall come from?!"  
  
"This wall is the hidden trap I had set up on the field. It's called Mirror Wall, and its special ability is to block all attacks that come its way. Also, the attacking monster's attack and defense power is reduced in half," Mai told her. Misty frowned at this turn of events.  
  
"I play the magic card Elegant Egotist to triple my Harpie attack force!"  
  
Three Harpie Ladies were now on the field, and they smirked at Misty and her monsters.  
  
ATK: 2450 DEF: 2100 (DEF ?)  
  
"There's three of them!" Misty quipped.  
  
"That's right. And now, I'm gonna attack your Beaver Warrior! Harpie Ladies, combine your powers and attack Misty's warrior!" The three Harpie Ladies began to power up a charge. A small, yellow light connected to each Harpie's claw, forming a triangle. Within the yellow triangle appeared a giant, red X. "Exteminator attack!!" Mai shouted triumphantly. The Harpie Ladies unleashed the fierce attack on the Beaver Warrior and utterly obliterated the monster.  
  
"Prepare yourself to meet: the Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai slapped down this card, bringing forth the dragon in battle. A loud boom sounded, and the monstrosity took a stance on the field, breathing smoke out of its mouth.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1700 (DEF ?) (it raised to 2900 because three Harpie Ladies were on the field)  
  
"I summon Koumori Dragon, in defense mode!" The dragon loaded onto the field and growled ferociously, but Mai wasn't phased.  
  
"I'm activating my face-down card, the Gorgon's Eye!" Mai turned the card over, activating its effect. "In case you don't know, Gorgon's Eye is a special trap card which turns all monsters you play into stone! Once a stone monster has been destroyed, half of its defensive power will be deducted from your life points! (Misty gasped again) And now, Harpie Ladies, Exterminator Attack!" The three sister combined their powers once again to forge the giant X, then launched it at the stone style Kourmori Dragon. The red X tore through the monster and shattered it into tiny pieces.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 200  
  
"Mai's strategy seems unstoppable. With this strategy, she's knocked my life points down to a scarce 200, and at the same time, she's managed to keep a perfect score. I haven't touched one of her monsters. Soon it'll be all over. I... I've failed my sisters..."  
  
|-----------------------------------------|  
  
It was around 9:36 pm. Downtown Celadon City was a beautiful sight at night. The skyscrapers were lit up, bright flurescent street lamps illuminated the streets, and flashy, neon signs decorated restaurants and gas stations. A black limo coasted down a rather busy boulevard, and inside was three figures. Two was male, and one was a female. Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body" (a classic in this decade) was playing over the stereo at a medium volume level. One of the men were addressing the woman.  
  
"Are you ready for this?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm ready," she replied while grooving to the beat. The man cleared his throat, causing her to stop temporarily.  
  
"You know the dangers and risks that is involved in accepting this, right?"  
  
"Of course. I knew of the risks involved when I first began working, so what's the point of asking me this now?"  
  
"I'm just making sure, don't want any kind of screwups," the man told her. She rolled her eyes and sighed.  
  
"Look, just tell me what I need to know, all right?" she snapped.  
  
The man then accessed his S.C.T and transported a piece of paper. It appeared to be a map. He unfolded the map and layed it across his lap, then looked up at the woman. "Okay, his stronghold is... here," he said while pointing to a location on the map. The woman leaned over to get a better view, as did the other male. "Once you arrive at the first island, you know you'll have to work your way through to reach the second. Once you do that, just follow this map until you reach the stronghold, understood?"  
  
"Mm-hmm," the woman nodded. She took the map from the man and stored it within her own S.C.T, then started dancing to the music once again, while singing along softly.  
  
"Is your, um.. uh.. eh, heh, your um... thing.. that t-thick stack of cards, do you have it with you?" the man wondered.  
  
"Just how dense do you think I am?! Of course I've got it with me," the woman responded sharply. She was a bit annoyed as she stopped dancing, crossed her legs and folded her arms, gazing out of the window to look at the passing scenery outside.  
  
"I was just making sure, ma'am, no need to be so... hostile. Anyways, take this," he reached out and handed the woman a face-down card. "It may prove useful when you arrive."  
  
"Thanks," she answered while taking the card. Stashing it away, she sighed heavily. "So, how much longer until we arrive at the airport?"  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Off in the distance, Seto Kaiba grinned evily. Mai was really obliterating Misty. There was nothing else the girl could do except lose. Seto was confident that no other card in Misty's deck would get her out of this bind. Although he and Misty were friends, he would not stand by and let her save the people that would eject him from his company and put him in prison: her sisters. Misty had lost all hope. She knew she had blew her chance. The duel was over. Mai's two trap cards really collaborated well with each other. Mirror Wall prevented her from attacking, and the Gorgon's Eye stopped from defending herself. She was virtually paralyzed! Misty knew that once Mai could attack and take out the rest of her life points, it would be all over. Mai smirked in glee.  
  
"If I recall correctly, I remeber hearing a young, fiery red-head girl telling me about how she would win and I would lose..."  
  
"Just shut it, Mai!" Misty snapped.  
  
"Well, girl, you might as well forfeit. There's nothing you can do to stop me," she teased. "My strategy is top notch. Mirror Wall keeps you from attacking me, and Gorgon's Eye stops you from defending yourself. With those two cards, you're just a huge target waiting to be obliterated."  
  
Misty sighed deeply. "She's right. There isn't anything I can do," she said and reluctantly drew a card, just for the sake of it. She looked at it, then placed onto the digital card reader. Her face started to brighten a little. "I'll summon one card, in attack mode," she said and watched it materialize onto the field. The card was a Suijin.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2200  
  
"Heh, you can't do anything else, hmm? A forfeit would've been easier, but I guess you're just allowing me to finish the match with a bang. How considerate of you," Mai said, and Misty rolled her eyes. "Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack Suijin with Fearsome Fire Blast!" Mai shouted. The monster gathered a large breath, then spewed out red hot fire at Suijin. As the attack neared ever closer, Mai smiled. "This is the end of the line for you, girl. Get ready to cough up your stars."  
  
"I don't think so! Suijin, raise Tidal Defense Shield!!" Misty announced. Mai let out a small gasp (as well as Seto) as a huge wave of water sprouted out of the ground. Harpie's Pet Dragon's fire blast plastered into the water, but the shield successfully negated the attack. Misty smirked and said, "Worked like a charm."  
  
"What the... how did you manage to do that?! Gorgon's Eye stops any and all defenses! Your Suijin should've turned into stone!" Mai exclaimed.  
  
"No, it wasn't supposed to turn into stone. Now, if I recall correctly, I remeber you telling me that Gorgon's Eye was a special trap card that turned all monsters played in defense mode into stone. I didn't play Suijin in defense mode; I played it in attack mode! Since it was in attack mode, your Gorgon's Eye couldn't work. Then, I activated Suijin's special ability when your Harpie's Pet Dragon attacked, protecting Suijin from the blast," Misty explained.  
  
"No! I thought you were as good as gone!" Mai yelled. "Oh well, since you're determined to fight, I say let the duel continue. You may have Suijin out on the field, but it still can't attack any of my monsters, because my Mirror Wall won't let you."  
  
"I'm not through yet, Mai," Misty retorted and drew a card. This time, she got a card called Gift of the Mystical Elf. "Ah ha! This is just what I need to put me back in the game! Mai, you may have knocked my life points down to a scarce 200, but it won't be like that any longer! I play Gift of the Mystical Elf!" Misty yelled, forcing Mai to gasp. "With my Gift of the Mystical Elf card, I will receive 300 life points for every monster on the field, including yours!" she announced.  
  
"No!" yelled Mai.  
  
Misty's card immediately went to work upon being place on the field. "I'll receive 300 life points from my Suijin, 300 life points from your Harpie's Pet Dragon, and 300 life points for each of your Harpie Ladies. Since there are three, I get 900 points from them. With all of the additional life points combined with my original 200 life points, my life points bin has now rocketed up to 1700!"  
  
Misty's Life Points- 1700  
  
"Weren't looking for that, were you, Mai?" Misty asked. Mai simply snarled in return. "Those 1700 points puts me back in the game, so this time I'm gonna be extra careful not to blow it," Misty muttered to herself.  
  
Seto's eyes shot open. [I thought Misty was finished for sure; I had no idea she would pull off a move like that! C'mon Mai, don't let her stage a big comeback. Wipe her out!]  
  
"I have to admit, that was a move I never expected from you. But, it still won't do you much good. In case you have forgotten, my monsters are still protected by Mirror Wall, which means your Suijin can't touch them. Now, all I've gotta do is work around your defense shield, and I think I know just how," Mai said and drew a card from her deck. It wasn't what she was looking for. "Drat! Oh well, I'll simply add this to my hand. Also, I'll give my Harpie's Pet Dragon another try at attacking your Suijin. Blast that blue box to ashes!" Mai yelled. Her monster spit out the fire beam at Suijin.  
  
"Haven't learned a thing, have you, Mai? Suijin, raise Tidal Defense Shield!" Misty snapped. The wave of water rose up and protected Suijin from the fire blast. "Don't you get it? No matter how many times you come at my Suijin, your pet dragon's attack will never reach it. Not as long as it has Tidal Defense Shield to protect it. Now, you've given me another draw phase. I wonder what I'll do with it?" Misty spoke while drawing a card. The card turned out to be a Spirit of the Harp. She already had Witch of the Black Forest in her hand, so now she needed a Polymerization card to fuse the two monsters together. "No move this time, I pass."  
  
Mai pulled up a card from her deck. She still didn't draw what she wanted. "Hmm... I'll pass my turn, since there's nothing I can do."  
  
Misty smirked, then picked up a card from her deck. It wasn't Polymerization, but it could still come in handy later. "I'll lay out this card face-down and end my turn," Misty said while doing so. Mai drew a card from her deck. This time, she got just what she wanted.  
  
"Perfect! Prepare to meet the card that'll end your little comeback, girl! I play the Shadow of Eyes!" Mai announced while slamming the card onto the field. Misty couldn't help letting out a gasp. "Ha! Watch the field, Misty. You'll see why Shadow of Eyes is going to put you out of commission," Mai commented. Suijin's little round Chinese symbol began to glow.  
  
"My monster is preparing to strike!" Misty quipped in shock.  
  
"That's right," Mai spoke in a sing-song fashion. "So, what are you waiting for Suijin? Attack my monsters with your powerful Tidal Surge attack!" she shouted. Suijin couldn't resist Shadow of Eyes' magic force and attacked Mai's Harpie Lady Sisters. Of course, since an attack was declared, Mai's Mirror Wall sprouted out of the ground to protect the ladies. The wave splashed against the wall, but it didn't get through. Suijin met an equal attack from its reflection. "All right!" exclaimed Mai. "Now your Suijin is gonna lose half of its attack and defense points!"  
  
ATK: 1250 DEF: 1100  
  
"And that makes it a big target for my monsters! Harpie's Pet Dragon, extinguish Suijin from the field! Fearsome Fire Blast!" The dragon obeyed Mai and launched its fire blast at Suijin. In all the excitement, Mai forgot about Misty's face-down card. She flipped it up quickly.  
  
"Magical Hats, activate now!" she yelled. Mai's eyes bucked open as four black hats covered Suijin and shuffled around to a random pattern. Her monster's attack struck the third hat and utterly obliterated it. Smoke covered the field for a short time, and Mai hoped that she destroyed the right hat. But when the smoke cleared, nothing was underneath.  
  
"Darn!" she stomped angrily. "Stupid Magical Hats! I would've taken a large chunk of your life points if you didn't have that stupid card out on the field! If my attack had succeeded, you would've had only 50 life points left!" Mai screamed in frustration.  
  
"It's a good thing I played Magical Hats," Misty said, then drew a card from her deck. It was Pot of Greed, so she decided to play it, which allowed her to draw two more cards from her deck. She did so, and got a Polymerization card, along with Metalmorph. She added those two cards to her hand. "No move this time."  
  
"Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack the second hat!" Mai commanded. The dragon performed its attack and wiped out the second hat. A huge explosion erupted, and wind blew against both Mai and Misty. When the smoke cleared out, Mai still hadn't managed to get Suijin. She sighed deeply. "Missed again," she muttered.  
  
"I just love those Magical Hats," Misty commented, and Mai gagged in disgust. She drew a card from her deck, then her lips curved into a huge smile. "Now I've got all the cards I need to stage the perfect comeback!" she exclaimed. Mai's facial expression took a turn for the worst, as did Seto's. "Yahoo! Now, Mai, I've just drawn the card that'll bring down your so-called 'invincible' strategy! I play Remove Trap, which I'll use to exterminate your stupid Mirror Wall!!" Misty shouted. Mai gasped in utter surprise.  
  
"Oh no!!" she shrieked. Seto's eyes popped open in disbelief.  
  
[I can't believe it! She's actually managing to come back from behind! What if Mai loses?! What if Misty wins this match, then go on to win the tournament?! If the old wench finds the cure to my virus and heals her sisters and the boy, I'm gonna be doomed!!] he thought to himself. He began to fill with worry. Mai's Mirror Wall rose out of the ground and exploded into crystal shards. The Harpie Ladies and their pet shielded themselves from the sharp pieces. Mai watched what was happening, utterly shocked.  
  
"She... sh-she.. she eliminated my Mirror Wall. That just about wrecks my strategy!" she yelled.  
  
"Good riddance to that blasted Mirror Wall. Now, with that nuisance out of the way, it's time to began Phase 2 of my plan. I summon both Spirit of the Harp, and Witch of the Black Forest, both in attack mode!" Misty said while placing down the cards, bringing them into battle.  
  
(Witch of the Black Forest) ATK: 1100 DEF: 1200 | (Spirit of the Harp) ATK: 800 DEF: 2000  
  
"Then, I'll lay out this Polymerization card to fuse these two monsters together to create my favorite monster!" Misty stated while playing the card. Bright light erupted on Misty's side of the field, and a large warp appeared. The warp passed over the two monsters, sucking them into it. The warp then began to spin around extremely fast, making the two monsters look like blurs. Then, white light shone all over Misty's side of the field, and when it faded, the Musician King stood.  
  
ATK: 1750 DEF: 1550  
  
"Then, I'm gonna lay out this magic card called Metalmorph, which turns my Musician King into the more powerful Heavy Metal King! Oh, I just love that Heavy Metal King," she said. The transformation didn't take long to complete, and the Heavy Metal King now stood in the place in which The Musician King stood moments ago.  
  
ATK: 2050 DEF: 1750  
  
"Then, I'll release my Suijin back onto the field and end my turn."  
  
Mai began to laugh in glee. "You mean, after all that talk, that's all you managed to put out on the field? You are a sad case, really. In case you haven't noticed, my Harpie Ladies and their pet dragon are far more powerful than that measly Heavy Metal King. I would attack your Suijin, but seeing as how the Heavy Metal King has a greater chance of defeating my monsters with power boosts, I'm gonna take it out! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack Heavy Metal King!" The dragon reared back and fired its beam at Heavy Metal King.  
  
"Suijin, defend it with Tidal Defense Shield!" Misty yelled. Mai gasped as Suijin fired a beam of water into Harpie's Pet Dragon's fire beam and negated the attack. "Worked like a charm," Misty commented.  
  
"But.. I thought Suijin could only defend itself from oncoming attacks. I didn't know that it could defend other monsters as well!" exclaimed Mai. (In case you didn't know, Suijin did defend Dark Magician in the anime episode where Yugi and Joey were dueling against Para and Dox)  
  
"Thought wrong, tramp," Misty quipped, then pulled a card from her deck. She got just what she wanted, then placed it onto the field. "I'll summon one monster face-down. Now, Heavy Metal King, attack one of the Harpie Lady Sisters!"  
  
"Wha.. you must be out of your mind! Your Heavy Metal King is no match for my Harpie Lady Sisters," Mai said.  
  
"Oh, yeah? Then watch, look, and learn, Mai!" Heavy Metal King's attack strength began to rise as it stroked the guitar, which emitted a rising high-pitched noise. Sonic waves launched out of the guitar, heading toward the orange-haired Harpie Lady.  
  
ATK: 2750  
  
"It's attack power has increased by 700 points!" shrieked a surprised Mai.  
  
"That's right, and 2750 attack points are more than enough to destroy that Harpie Lady with!" Misty confirmed as Heavy Metal King's attack struck the Harpie Lady. The waves were too much for her to handle and she shattered into pieces.  
  
Mai's Life Points- 1700  
  
"Now we're equal," snapped Misty, and Mai glared at her.  
  
"Not for long," she retorted.  
  
"Don't forget, Mai, your Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack strength has dropped by 300 because one of the Harpie Ladies have been destroyed," Misty informed her.  
  
ATK: 2600  
  
Mai simply snarled in disgust, then drew a card. "Hmm... I've still got two Harpie Ladies on the field, and the Harpie's Pet Dragon. Misty will be able to take Harpie's Pet Dragon out on her next turn, but she'll probably go for another Harpie Lady. Once she destroy it, Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack strength will lower even more. Then, she'll destroy the last one standing, which will cause my Pet Dragon's attack power to drop back to its original 2000 points. Then, she'll destroy it! I've got to take Heavy Metal King out immediately," she murmered to herself. "So, I'll just play another Elegant Egotist card to multiply the two Harpie Ladies already on the field!" she said while placing down the card. Each Harpie Lady produced two clones, so there was a total of six Harpie Ladies on the field once the process was complete. Mai smirked in delight. (Yes, Mai said in Episode 5 of the anime series that she would keep using that card over and over again to multiply her Harpie Ladies endlessly, but Joey defeated her before she could)  
  
"So, that means Harpie's Pet Dragon attack power rises..." Misty started, and Mai finished for her.  
  
"1200 points, which brings it total attack power level to..."  
  
ATK: 3800  
  
"3800 points!" Mai shouted, then laughed heartily. Misty sighed heavily and frowned. "And all 3800 points are aimed straight at Heavy Metal King! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack Heavy Metal King! Fearsome Fire Blast!!" Mai yelled in glee. Her monster obeyed her instruction and shot out a huge fire beam out of its mouth. Misty thought her monster was doomed, then she remebered something... As the attack neared ever closer, some blue fragments materializd out of thin air and formed into a blue, rubbery- looking monster which jumped in front of Heavy Metal King. The attack hit it instead and blew it into pieces.  
  
"What the heck was that?!" Mai exclaimed.  
  
"That blue thing you saw is a special, extremely rare monster known as Revival Jam. Revival Jam blocks any and all your monsters attacks. And the best thing about it is that it's indestructable! Which means it's gonna be reforming itself right about now!" Misty announced. Mai gasped in shock as the blue creature began reforming itself, just like Misty said. Once all the fragments merged together, it floated back into the holographic Revival Jam card.  
  
"Ugh... it's disgusting!"  
  
"Yeah, maybe to you it is, but to me, it's one of the cutest monsters ever made! And it's powerful ability is bringing me one step closer to victory," Misty commented. "As long as my beautiful Revival Jam is on the field, your supercharged dragon can't get anywhere near my monsters. But, my monsters can get yours! Heavy Metal King, attack one of those ugly, hideous Harpie Ladies now!" Heavy Metal King stroked the guitar and unleashed its attack.  
  
ATK: 2750  
  
The Harpie Lady didn't stand a chance against Heavy Metal King's attack and shattered into pieces. Mai's life point meter dropped again.  
  
Mai's Life Points- 1400  
  
Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack points dropped to 3500 (and of course, Heavy Metal King's power dropped back to 2050). "Now you're 300 life points behind me Mai, and your dragon lost 300 attack points. If I recall correctly, you told me I was doomed, remeber?" Misty jeered, then began laughing. She was finally starting to enjoy this duel, now that things were going her way. She was finally winning the duel, and she intended on keeping it that way. Mai frowned angrily.  
  
"This duel isn't over yet!" she snapped. Of course, Seto was still standing in the distance watching. He was so nervous that his hand began to twitch. Seto was starting to get a little scared. If Misty won this duel, she had a chance at winning the tournament, and if she did that, he was basically sunk. If that old wench was as good as she stated, then chances are she would find a cure and administer it to the sisters. Then, it would be all over.  
  
[Mai, you'd better not fail me. If you do, I promise there's gonna be hell to pay!] he thought.  
  
Back to the duel, Mai was still trying to figure out what she should do to tip the scale in her favor. But, no ideas was coming to her mind. She drew a card, and it turned out being another Negate Attack card. It could come in handy for negating Heavy Metal King's next attack, but it wouldn't buy her much time because it was a one time only card. She placed it face-down. "Hmm... maybe I might have better luck attacking Suijin. I've gotta try something! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack Suijin!" Mai snapped. Her monster fired yet another wave of fire at Suijin, but Misty was prepared. Revival Jam materialized in front of Suijin and took the blow. It exploded into liquid, gooey pieces, then started rematerializing yet again. Mai was getting very annoyed at the creature. The creature reformed itself, then sunk back down into the holocard.  
  
"My Revival Jam stopped another one of your attacks, and now, you've left me the chance of attacking another Harpie Lady. Go, Heavy Metal King, attack one!"  
  
ATK: 2750  
  
Harpie Lady was no match for the attack and burst into pieces. Mai lost yet another 300 life points, bringing her down to 1100. Her Harpie's Pet Dragon also lost another 300 points, dragging its attack power down to 3200. Mai was now 600 life points behind Misty. Soon, Misty was going to wipe her out unless she did something. "I switch all my Harpie Ladies to defensive mode!" Her monsters all huddled together.  
  
"Running scared, eh, Mai?" Misty teased. Mai rolled her eyes and did not comment. Misty pulled up a card from her deck, then added it to her hand for later use. "Heavy Metal King, attack yet another Harpie Lady!" Misty commanded. Her monster's attack strength raised up to 2750 as sonic waves made their way toward a Harpie Lady.  
  
"Not so fast, Misty! I play Negate Attack!" Mai stated and activated her magic card. A warp appeared in front of the Harpie Lady which absorbed the oncoming attack, then dissappeared. Mai sighed a sigh a relief. "That buys me a bit of time."  
  
Heavy Metal King's attack power returned to 2050. "You may have gotten lucky enough to evade that attack, Mai, but next time, things will be different. Face it, Mai, there's only so much you can do to protect your Harpie Ladies without Mirror Wall..." before Misty could finish, Mai interrupted her.  
  
"Don't even say it, 'cause it's not happening. I'll defeat you one way or another," she snapped and drew a card. Unfortunately, for her, it wasn't going to help her out of her current predicament. She added it to her hand. The only thing she could do was desperately try to destroy Heavy Metal King. Maybe there was a certain number of times Revival Jam could be used. "Harpie's Pet Dragon, try another Fearsome Fire Blast!"  
  
"Trying again, Mai? When will you learn?" Misty jeered as the dragon's fire blast headed toward Heavy Metal King at blazing speeds. But, once again, the Revival Jam sprung out of its holocard and blocked the attack by allowing itself to be hit. It exploded into numerous pieces, but they began to reform themselves yet again. "Your monster's attack can't get anywhere near my monsters, because my adorable Revival Jam blocks all your attacks. Then, it keeps reforming because it's indestructable. No monster in all of Duel Monsters can destroy it. So, as long as I have this monster working for me, me and my monsters are indestructable!"  
  
"She's right. With Revival Jam out on the field, I can't touch her," Mai acknowledged quietly.  
  
"Heavy Metal King, strike again!" shouted Misty. The monster stroked the guitar and sent another wave of sonic waves at a Harpie Lady. The attack power rose up to 2750 again, which was enough to do away with the monster; it erupted into pieces. Mai didn't lose any life points because it had been switched into defense mode. Misty laughed and said, "How does it feel to be on the losing end? How does it feel to be totally powerless against your opponent, Mai? You can't touch me, thanks to my wonderful Revival Jam, but I can destroy any one of your Harpie Ladies, and eventually, I'll be able to do away with the dragon, too! After all your monsters are gone, there will be nothing standing between my monsters and you!" Misty told her. Then she cackled joyfully, obviously savoring the moment.  
  
(Harpie's Pet Dragon) ATK: 2900 | (Heavy Metal King) ATK: 2050  
  
[No, Mai! You cannot lose to Misty! You have to win, for my sake! Don't fail me, Mai, don't fail me!] Seto said mentally.  
  
Mai didn't know what to do. Just as Misty said before, she was powerless against her now. With Revival Jam on the field, she couldn't hurt Misty's monsters, but Misty was free to attack any of her monsters. How could she get out of this mess? What if she couldn't get out of this mess? Mai pulled up a card from the deck. She didn't get anything that would help her out, so she simply added it to her hand. [There's gotta be a weakness somewhere. There must be a way to destroy Revival Jam. It can't be invulnerable, like Misty claims. Maybe, instead of trying to attack her monsters, I should try attacking it directly. I doubt it'll work, but I don't have any better ideas.] "This time, I'm gonna do something a little differenty. Instead of attacking your monsters, I'm gonna assault your Revival Jam directly! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack Revival Jam!"  
  
"Do you really think this is gonna work?" Misty inquired. Revival Jam sprouted out of the holocard and was struck by the fire blast. A huge explosion erupted on the field, but when the smoke cleared out, Revival Jam was reforming itself again. "Ah, it didn't work. My Revival Jam still stands, or should I say, float? Anyway, Heavy Metal King, let's obliterate another Harpie Lady!" Yet another Harpie Lady shattered into pieces after it met Heavy Metal's King's supercharged attack. Misty smirked defiantly at her triumph. She was beating Mai into a submission. Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack power dropped to 2600.  
  
"I.. I'm losing..." Mai muttered to herself. It was starting to dawn on her that Misty was blowing her out. Could she possibly win? She had to win. Not only did she want the $10,000 dollars Seto Kaiba was offering her, but she would fail her mission if she lost. Somehow, someway, she had to get back in the game before it was all over.  
  
"Only two Harpie Ladies and a dragon are left standing. After I get rid of them, you can kiss your life points goodbye," Misty chimed, grinning afterwards. [Don't worry, Lily, Daisy, Violet, I'll save you all if it's the last thing I do. Once I win the tournament, I'm gonna pay that wench the 3 million dollars so she can find a cure. Just hold on, sisters. I promise I won't let you down. I won't fail you; I can't fail you.] Mai reached out and drew a card, then gasped. She stood there staring at the card. Misty was confused as she watched her. What did she draw? Would it help her win, or was it starting to sink on her that she was losing? What was going on? All these thoughts pulsed through Misty's mind as she stared at Mai. Mai's lips slowly began to curve up into a smile.  
  
"Well... well... well..." she spoke while looking up at Misty, "Look what we have here. Your Revival Jam is history, and so is you! I play this magic card, the Mystic Box!" she yelled and slapped it onto the card reader. Misty let out a gasp. "Allright, girl, watch the field." Mai's Mystic Box went to work. A box appeared around Harpie's Pet Dragon and locked it inside. Suddenly, a large array of swords and knives appeared out of thin air and skewered the box.  
  
"You're... destroying your own monster?" Misty wondered.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. Did I destroy my own monster? It appears as though I did, seeing as how the box in which my Harpie's Pet Dragon was sealed in got skewered. But, look closely," Mai said. Another box materialized out of thin air next to the first one. The first box opened up to reveal Misty's Revival Jam monster covered in swords. Misty was surprised.  
  
"What?! How'd my monster get skewered? Harpie's Pet Dragon was the one in the box!" she exclaimed.  
  
"It's magic, baby. And that's only half of the trick. The best thing about it is, My pet dragon will emerge from the second box without a scratch." True to her word, the second box opened and Harpie's Pet Dragon emerged from the box in perfect condition. Misty eyes were simply bucked wide open in shock. "And now, to finish my turn, I'll play two cards: Reinforcements to increase my pet dragon's attack strength by 500 points, and a De-spell card to wipe out your Heavy Metal King's magic boost, turning it back into The Musician King!" Mai announced.  
  
(Harpie's Pet Dragon) ATK: 3100 | (The Musician King) ATK: 1750 DEF: 1550  
  
"And now, Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack The Musician King!" she shouted. The monster powered a large blast of fire and shot it out of its mouth, which obliterated the king from the field.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 650  
  
"We're not equal anymore, tramp. And without that disgusting Revival Jam to hide behind, there's nothing stopping me from blowing away your Suijin, then blowing away you!" Mai yelled. Then she started laughing in glee.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Brock had begun to patch Tristan up inside the tint, but he started to cough up more blood, so Brock rushed him down to one of the medical centers on the shores of the island. After bursting through the doors and telling a nearby doctor of his internal injuries, the doctor rushed him into the Emergency Room to get him stabilized. Brock walked off into one of the bathrooms to put on some khaki cargo pants and a red jersey. After doing so, he slipped on some white tennis shoes, then came out of the bathroom. He made his way to the small waiting area and took a seat in one of the chairs. Rubbing his hands through his hair, he sighed heavily. He wished he hadn't been exploring that sunken plane. If he hadn't, he would've been able to defend Tristan from Surge. Brock hoped that his best friend would be all right; internal injuries could be quite serious. Brock also didn't know what he would going to do about his newfound abilites. What was wrong with him? What happened to him? The inscription also brought a gallon of stress.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
The inscription warned him that bad things would start happening to him. What kind of complications would arouse? How cursed was the artifact? What would become of him? Brock shook his head and sighed again. He was beginning to get scared. He was scared for his life. What if he would eventually... die? A voice spoke to him and startled him. He looked up to see the doctor standing beside the chair. Brock slowly began to stand up.  
  
"Uh... I assume you've come to tell me about my friend?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," the doctor nodded.  
  
"Well, how is he?"  
  
"He'll be fine, fortunately. His injuries weren't too bad; we got him stabilized very quickly. It's a good thing you came to us, young man. If you hadn't, he could've bled to death from the inside," the doctor told him.  
  
"So, he'll be all right?"  
  
The doctor nodded. "Yes. For the most part, his injuries have been taken care of. He'll still be rather sore, though. What happened to him anyway?" the doctor wondered.  
  
Brock feared that if he told the doctor what really happened and the doctor contacted local security, they would investigate Surge, which would probably make the man hire an assassin to kill them both out of anger. So he decided to lie about what happened. "He.. uh, was trying an extreme stunt and he messed up," Brock said.  
  
"Oh, well, you should tell him to watch himself. He could've hurt himself pretty badly."  
  
"I'll do that. By the way, is he able to leave yet? And where can I find him?" Brock inquired.  
  
"Yeah, he can leave, since his injuries have been taken care of. Your friend should be in room 97. Once you leave this waiting room, take a right and follow that cooridor all the way to the end. Then, take a left. His room should be there," the doctor stated, then walked off. Brock followed the directions the doctor gave him to Tristan's room. Once he arrived there, he opened the door and walked inside. Tristan was sitting on the foot of the bed slipping on some black tennis shoes. He looked up when Brock entered.  
  
"Hey, man," he greeted.  
  
"What's up?" Brock returned and slapped hands with him. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm a bit sore," Tristan replied.  
  
"The doctor said that you can go now. He said you'll be sore for a little while, though."  
  
Tristan nodded, then said, "Stupid Surge. We need to find security and tell them about what he did."  
  
"No, we shouldn't. It's likely Surge will attempt to assassinate us both if we get the cops on him. Remeber that day when Surge attacked you in your house? You did say he was extremely pissed because you got him locked up." (By the way, that was after I ended the scene, heh heh)  
  
"I guess you have a point," Tristan answered reluctantly. "He'd better not attack me again, 'cause I'll kill him if he try," he said and got off the bed, heading toward the door. Brock got up and followed him. "I've had enough of this; he's going down if he messes with me again. Surge has attacked me, my Grandmother, you, all in an effort to get my two powerful cards. Well, if he bothers me again, that dick is going in the ground."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Surge was getting himself patched up by Vicki in his tint. Jason was off spectacting some duels nearby. As Vicki patched him up, he sighed heavily. He failed once again. He still hadn't managed to obtain those two powerful cards. Slifer The Sky Dragon and Obelisk The Tormentor are two of the most rare and powerful cards ever made from the game, and he had to get them, somehow, someway.  
  
"Well, boss, what are you gonna do now?" wondered Vicki. She was still patching up Surge. Surge shifted to a more comfortabe position and scoffed.  
  
"I don't know. This is really starting to get tiresome, to be so close to those cards and not get them. It's getting frustrating!" he snapped angrily.  
  
"Boss, maybe you should give up and let him have the cards. I mean, they're not that special, right? They're not so important that you'll get a good pummeling over them, are they?"  
  
"They are that important! One of them belonged to me!" Surge answered, then rubbed his hands through his spikey, messy, blonde hair. "Slifer The Sky Dragon was my card, and that dick had it taken from me! This is unacceptable! I won't be humiliated like this! I want my card back, and I want it now!!" he shouted in disgust.  
  
"Calm down, boss, please," Vicki told him. "We'll find a way to retrieve the cards; you just have to give these things time, all right? You can't rush this, Surge. You're gonna have to wait it out."  
  
"I don't wanna wait to get something that should've never left me."  
  
"I know, and I wouldn't want to either, but sometimes, that's just the way life is. Deal with it. Now, after we get through patching you up, we'll go and spy on Tristan," she suggested.  
  
"No, I'm going to pummel him, and force the cards out of his possesion!"  
  
"Don't do that, boss! You see force isn't working, so back down!" Vicki yelled. Surge gave her a nasty glare, but she stared him down defiantly. Both of them looked at each other for awhile, then Surge turned away and sighed. "Now, listen up. If you play your cards right, you can have the two god cards. This is what we should do. We should watch Tristan for awhile and see if he leaves his cards alone or something, so that we can sneak in and grab them, then run off. It won't be that simple, of course, but it's better than running around, picking fights, right?"  
  
"Whatever," Surge replied while shrugging.  
  
"Perk up, boss," Vicki chimed. "Don't worry about it. We'll have those cards in your hands in a matter of time. Just let the prick think he's gotten away for now. Then, when the time is right, we'll strike and take them back, understand? Right now, the wisest thing to do is wait."  
  
"Okay, I'll wait."  
  
"Good," Vicki said, then continued patching him up. "Everything will be fine in due time."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Misty's life points were now down at 650. Her strategy had been wrecked because Mai successfully destroy Revival Jam, which stopped all of Mai's monsters from attacking her. Harpie's Pet Dragon wiped out Heavy Metal King also. What was she going to do now? Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack points returned back to 2600. It was Misty's turn now, and she drew a card. She grinned slightly and added the card to her hand. Mai's eyes narrowed. "No move this time, Mai. I pass," she told her.  
  
Mai couldn't help but be a bit on the precautious side. What was Misty up to? Why was she grinning? Mai knew Misty had some sort of trick up her sleeve, but what was it? There wasn't anyway she could know for sure, unfortunately. For now, the only thing she could do was attack... or, she could take a wait-and-see attitude. After drawing a card of her own, she said, "I pass my turn this time."  
  
Misty rolled her eyes and sighed. [She's wrecking my strategy again. If she keeps taking a wait-and-see attitude, I'll never be able to make my play.] Misty pulled up another card from her deck. She eyed it, then looked up at Mai. "No move this time, either."  
  
Mai's eyes narrowed again. She didn't know what Misty was up to, and there was no sure fire way to tell, either. She was sick of waiting around though; it was time to strike while she had the chance. "I may have passed a turn last time, but not this time around. I'm attacking your Suijin with my pet dragon. Fearsome Fire Blast!" she yelled. Harpie's Pet Dragon complied and blew up Suijin with its blast of fire, which was exactly what Misty wanted Mai to do. "There goes your Suijin, Misty. If you don't play a monster this time, I'll finish you off!"  
  
"Thanks a lot, Mai," retorted Misty, who was grinning. "You attacked my Suijin, which was exactly what I wanted you to do. Now, I can play this Reborn the Monster card (Mai gasped) to revive it, and it'll be back at full power too!" she announced. Her magic card went to work, and within moments, a fully revitalized Suijin found its way onto the field.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2200  
  
"Oh no!" Mai gulped.  
  
"Suijin, attack one of the remaining Harpie Ladies with Tidal Surge!" shouted Misty. The small, blue circle with a Chinese symbol on it began to glow, then a large, powerful wave of water shot out of it. The Harpie Lady was struck down and killed by the attack. Fortunately, for Mai, it was in defense mode. Unfortunately, for Mai, the Harpie's Pet Dragon lost another 300 life points, making it vulnerable to Suijin's next attack.  
  
ATK: 2300  
  
"Your Harpie's Pet Dragon is getting weaker and weaker everytime I destroy a Harpie Lady. Once I destroy it and the last remaining Harpie Lady, they'll be nothing left to defend you from my Suijin's watery wrath," Misty chimed. "You may have destroyed my Revival Jam, but I'll still defeat you without it."  
  
Mai scowled at Misty and these turn of events. Things weren't going exactly as she planned them. She didn't want to admit it, but Misty was winning the duel, not her. Mai was a little surprised at how quickly the match got tipped in Misty's favor. When the duel first began, she was beating Misty into an utter submission. Misty was powerless against her strategy: the Harpie Ladies and their pet was too strong for her to handle. Or so she thought. Now, in just a few minutes, Misty was beating her. How could she turn this back around? Mai knew that Misty would destroy her last two monsters soon, then she would be open to direct damage. Something had to be done. Mai slowly pulled up a card from her deck. "My only move will be switching Harpie's Pet Dragon to defense mode," she spoke.  
  
"Suijin, attack the last Harpie Lady! Tidal Surge!" Misty shouted. Suijin's powerful attack reached the Harpie Lady and struck it. The lady was no match for the attack, and it burst into several, small pieces. Harpie's Pet Dragon attack strength was now at 2000. "Allright! Just two more attacks and I win!" exclaimed Misty.  
  
Mai knew she was right. She had nothing to use against her. All the Harpie Ladies had been destroyed, taking away all of Harpie's pet Dragon's attack boost. It was no match against Suijin now. Mai drew a card, then subtly gasped. She stared at the card for a little while, then added it to her hand. "I pass, do your worst."  
  
"And that's just what I'll do. Suijin, attack the dragon!" Misty yelled. Suijin powered up once more and shot out the powerful wave of water which drowned the dragon, causing it to dissappear off the field. There wasn't any monsters left on Mai's side of the field, meaning that Misty could directly attack her life points on her next turn. Mai grabbed another card from the deck. It turned out to be a Reborn the Monster card. Mai suddenly started to piece an idea together in her head. This could be just what she needed!  
  
"All right, Misty, I play this: Reborn the monster to ressurrect the previously destroyed Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai slapped the card onto the card reader, thus bringing forth the monster. It appeared on the field, snarling and growling viciously.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1700 (?)  
  
"And now, I'll play Gaia the Fierce Knight, in attack mode!" Mai summoned the creature onto the field, besides Harpie's Pet Dragon.  
  
ATK: 2300 DEF: 2100  
  
"Then, I'll wrap it up with this: a Ritual card!" she announced. Misty let out a gasp of fear.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I had nearly forgotten about this card. It was given to me a while back, in Celadon City (recognize something?). A friend of mine handed to me, claiming that it could be useful, and I think he may have been correct! This Ritual card will help get me out of this jam you've jutted me into, Misty! I'm sacrificing my pet dragon and my Gaia, in order to initiate the Black Luster Ritual!"  
  
"I can't believe it," Misty said softly to herself. "I.. I wonder what's gonna emerge?"  
  
Three black pots appeared. The one in the center of the three was fairly larger than the other two on the side of it. Some bluish aura emerged from the two smaller pots; Harpie's Pet Dragon and Gaia the Fierce Knight were sucked down into the pots. Moments passed, then smoke shot out of the central pot without warning. Then, a large, tall figure started to emerge from the central pot. The Black Luster Soldier floated out of the pot and slowly landed on the field as the ritual pots dissappeared.  
  
"Surprised, Misty?" You can look out for a world of trouble now, but first, I'm ending my turn," Mai stated. She knew that if she attacked now, Misty would just negate her attack with the defense shield. Misty reached out for a card. She drew it, but unfortunately, she didn't get anything worthwhile. She cursed under her breath and passed her turn. Mai grabbed a card from her deck, hoping for a good one. Did she get it? Misty gulped as Mai drew the card. Seto was still as nervous as ever. What would card could it possibly be? Would it be nothing? Or could it possibly be the card that'll finish Misty off...  
  
"This is perfect! I play Fissure!" Mai yelled while slamming the card down. Misty gasped in shock. "Ha, ha! Fissure is a card that can destroy one of your face-up cards with the lowest attack. Since the only card on your side of field is Suijin, that means it gets destroyed!"  
  
"No!" Misty couldn't believe it. The holocard loaded, and two large, transparent hands appeared over the card. They reared back and struck the ground, causing a seismic shockwave which tore through the ground. The ground beneath Suijin collapsed, and the elemental box fell through and dissappeared off the field. Mai smirked triumphantly.  
  
"There's nothing you can do to delay this, Misty. I told you I'd be the victor, and you'd be the loser, and what do you know? It's playing out just like I said it would! Now, prepare yourself Misty! Black Luster Soldier, attack Misty directly with your Chaos Blade attack!" Mai shouted defiantly. The soldier jumped into the air, then came back down and struck the ground with its sword, causing a powerful, yellow energy beam to flow through the ground. It hit Misty (picture a slow-motion scene of Misty falling toward the ground for about 3 1/2 seconds) and knocked her onto the ground, but she wasn't hurt at all. Mai cackled obnoxiously.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 0  
  
Seto's face lightened up and his lips curved into a devious smile. [Hmm... gave me a lot of tense moments, Mai, but well done, nevertheless. You shall get your reward,] he thought to himself, then walked back toward the entrance of the cave, eager to crush more duelists. Now that Misty was out, he had nothing to worry about any longer.  
  
Misty looked up in time to see her life points spiral down to 0. Her face took on a look of utter shock as she layed there in disbelief. She lost... she lost the duel. It was all over, now she could never save her sisters. Now that she was officially out of the tournament, she could never get the money needed to pay the old wench in order to get her help. And that meant that her sisters were doomed. She failed them... in essence, she killed them... Mai walked over to Misty and grabbed her arm tightly. She ejected the stars out of Misty's dueling glove, then shoved her arm back onto the ground. Scrapping them up, she inserted them onto her dueling glove and smirked. She was officially in the main tournament, much to her pleasure. She then started walking off, not saying a word to Misty. Misty got off the ground and darted pass Mai angrily, tears forming in her eyes. Her sisters were going to die, and there was nothing she could about it...  
  
(Ending Discloser Below.) --Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500-- Once again, I am terribly sorry for the long wait. My life can be very unpredictable at times... Anyways, I apologize again because this episode was a little shorter than the others before it. But, there wasn't a whole lot that could be done this time around. The main focus of the episode is the showdown between Misty and Mai itself, hence the title name. I threw in the scenes with Brock/Tristan and Vicki/Surge to move their little story arc along, and to plump out the episode so that it wouldn't be overwhelmingly short. I don't know when the next episode will be up, but I will try to get it up as fast as I can. Let's just hope that no more of that disgusting Writer's Block rear its ugly head any time soon. Peace out, and thanks to all that gave my fanfic a chance! I really appreciate that! 


	13. Episode 13, 'The SubCompetition Rages On...

Well, here's another episode for the fans of my book to eat into. To tell you the truth, this was actually the very first episode of my fanfic, not "The Beginning, Part 1". You see, one fateful evening back in June 2002, I finished watching one of my favorite Yu-gi-oh! episodes, and decided that it would be kinda cool to write a fanfic based off my favorite show on television (well, one of them, I love Buffy a lot too, but we won't go off into that). I sat down and began typing some random things. Of course, the "beta" version of this episode and book wasn't nearly as developed as it is now, because I hadn't put much thought into it. I was just doing something after the Yu-gi-oh! episode went off. Heh, I never thought it would turn into this! Just thought you might've wanted to know that. I had to do some major editing, fixing, transmogrifying, remodifying, and remaking to the episode to set it up in conjuction with the storylines developed, the storylines that will develop, and to bring it up-to-par with the previous episodes. Also, as I always say at the closing of my comments, I hope you enjoy this episode! One more thing: Do forgive me if there's any plot holes I might've accidentally missed, or any typos.  
  
Disclaimer (I've been forgetting to do this a lot lately, LOL [laugh out loud]): I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 13, 'The Sub-Competition Rages On' (4/21/2003)  
  
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Brock and Tristan had left the medical center and were heading back to their campsite. The campsite wasn't too far away from the center, so they got there in about eight minutes. While approaching the tints, Brock's stomach started grumbling. Tristan looked at him and laughed. "Sounds like somebody's hungry," he spoke.  
  
"Well, I haven't had anything to eat all day. Tristan, whatever happened to that basket with the fruit you had collected from around the island? I could sure use some strawberries or oranges right now," Brock said.  
  
"The fruit basket's in my tint, I'll run and get it," Tristan told him, then took off toward the tint. Brock watched him go, then leisurely walked over to the edge of the lake and sighed heavily. He was still worried about what could happen to him. What did the inscription mean?  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
Brock hated that he ever jumped in the lake. He never would've stumbled upon the sunken plane in the first place if he hadn't taken that good, underwater swim. He wished that he decided to find another way to give his mind a rest, like playing a game, or something. Taking a swim to relieve the stress of winning the tournament for his father only wound up putting more stress on his shoulders. Speaking of which, what if his dad found out about this incident? Would he still love him, or would he consider him a freak of nature, disown him, and throw him away? Brock shuddered at the thought. The boy was pretty scared, not only for his own sake, but also because of the things mentioned. What if all his family seperated themselves from him and stopped loving him? Brock shook his head and sighed heavily. He turned away from the lake and walked over to a nearby tree. He carefully climbed up the tree and sat on a branch. He wanted to get his mind off of this current dillema, so he transported his dueling glove out of his device and looked to see how many stars he had. There was six stars in the star shaped holes. So far, he was doing pretty well. Just nine more star chips and he was tournament bound. After he won the tournament, he would receive 100 million dollars which he would use to pay for his father's surgeries needed to heal his injuries. And an extra bonus is that his family wouldn't be poor and living in a house made for 5 people anymore. After he won the prize, him and his family would be livin' large. Brock started to think about what he would do with his share of the money. He'd probably purchase a Gamestation at long last, then he'd buy plenty of expensive chains and jewelry, go on a shopping spree for games and stuff, and possibly get his hair dyed a dark red or green for a different look. Possibly. Tristan came back out of tint with the fruit basket in tow.  
  
"Hey, I got the basket. And, what are you doing up in that tree?" he wondered.  
  
"There wasn't any where else to sit, and besides, the wind up here feels great," Brock replied, then said, "Hey, toss me an orange." Tristan reached into the basket and grabbed an orange, then threw it at Brock. Brock caught it with ease and bit down into it, savoring the sweet, delicous taste. Suddenly, a voice spoke to him which startled him.  
  
"Uh, excuse me?" the feminine voice said.  
  
Brock turned his head back to see who it was. Tristan also looked to see who it was. A beautiful blonde girl around their age stood there. She was wearing a blue jean miniskirt and a white midriff. Her long blonde hair flowed down to her mid-back, and it was all spiraled gorgeously. Her hair was decked out as diamonds also flowed through the spiraled hair, which shined and sparkled in the sunlight. Three diamond necklaces flowed down her neck, and her arms were decorated with diamond bracelets and rings. It was an amazing sight to Brock.  
  
"Wow.. check out the walking jewelry store..." Brock's eyes stared into hers a bit dreamily. He caught himself and shook his head. "Uh, can I help you in any way, miss?" he asked.  
  
"I was wondering if, uh, you knew where a nearby garden was," she told him.  
  
"Um, there's one on the other side of the lake," he said and pointed to it.  
  
"Oh! I see it, thanks!" she said and began to walk away.  
  
"Glad to be of help," Brock replied and bit another chunk of the orange off. He chewed it while watching her walk away. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back around to face him.  
  
"Actually, I didn't want to know where the garden was, I came here to challenge you to a duel!" the girl demanded, then revealed her white dueling glove (which was plated in diamonds) and slipped it on.  
  
"You? Challenge me to a duel? What's your name, princess?"  
  
"My name is Yolanda Richards, what's yours?"  
  
"My name's Brock Mowry," he answered, then started to remeber something. "Hey, aren't you that girl that guy in the tournament got a flawless victory on?"  
  
Yolanda scoffed, then pointed her finger at him. "Yeah, that's me, who cares?! What's your answer? Get up and face down your challenge. Be brave! Are you gonna face me like a man and give me a duel? Or are you too scared, are you gonna chicken out?" Yolanda inquired.  
  
Brock slowly climbed down out of the tree, then approached her. He stared into her eyes, but he was serious now. "Hey, I'm not a chicken! Allright, I accept your challenge. If you want a duel, you'll get a duel. How many stars?" Brock pulled out his green dueling glove and slipped it tightly around his hand. Perhaps this was a good way to get his mind off of... you know what.  
  
"Three stars," she confirmed. She transported a diamond plated portable dueling console out of her S.C.T and wrapped it around her arm firmly.  
  
"Gotta put diamonds on it too? You're a walking jewelry store," he commented.  
  
"Yes, and I'm proud of it. Now, whip out your dueling device and let's duel!" she shouted a bit bossily and impatiently. Brock whipped out his gold duel console and strapped it onto his arm properly. Brock grabbed his deck of cards out of his pants pocket, placed it into the deck keeper and powered up his system, as did Yolanda.  
  
"Ready?" Brock called out.  
  
"A little slow, if you ask me, but I'm ready," Yolanda answered. "Now let's duel!" they both shouted simutaneously.  
  
***Brock's/Yolanda's Life Points- 2000***  
  
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After running out of the cave, Misty sprinted back to her campsite with tears forming in her eyes. When she arrived, she sunk to the ground and began crying her heart out. [I failed. I failed my sisters. I didn't even earn enough star chips to enter into the tournament. That stupid tramp. She tied me up, forced me to battle her and took my stars from me; now there's nothing I can do to help my sisters. I let them down. Now they'll never get that expensive treatment that would save their lives. Instead, they are... they are going to... die.] Misty cried even harder when she thought about what was going to transpire. What she didn't know is that the crying attracted someone to her location.  
  
"Misty, hey, is that you?" the person asked.  
  
Misty turned around to face the person and it turned out to be her old friend Joey. "Joey, what are you doing here?" Misty quickly wiped the tears off of her face.  
  
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Joey asked her with concern showing in his voice.  
  
"Nothing.. I'm just..."  
  
"Crying for nothing?" Joey interrupted her. He walked over next to her and sat down. "You can tell me, I promise to keep whatever it is a secret."  
  
"That's really nice... Joey, but I really don't want to talk about it," Misty said, but Joey wouldn't accept this. "C'mon, you can talk to me. It might help you if you tell someone," Joey put his hand on her back and rubbed it gently.  
  
Misty sighed heavily. [Should I tell him? It isn't really none of his concern, but Joey is my best friend, an old friend, to add. He's really concerned about me, and besides, it might make me feel better if I actually talked about it. Maybe, just maybe, he might have some way of helping me.] She then spoke, "Okay, I'll talk." There was a pause for moment before Misty continued. "I lost all my star chips."  
  
"What?!" Joey gasped in surprise. "How? What happened?"  
  
"This whore named Mai, which I was starting to be pretty good friends with, made me fight an all-out duel for everything and she won, so she took all my star chips," Misty explained.  
  
"That's cruel! Aren't you supposed to be friends?!" Joey was obviously disgusted at Mai's actions. "So, that's why you're crying?" he asked her.  
  
"No. I'm crying because..." Misty's voice trailed off as tears began forming in her eyes again.  
  
Joey grabbed her hands and made her look at him. He stared into her eyes. "Don't wuss out now, tell me. I promise, whatever it is, I'm sure I can help."  
  
Misty jumped up from the ground. "No, you can't help! They're going to die all because of me!"  
  
"Who? Whose gonna die?" Joey was confused.  
  
Misty was sobbing now. Joey quickly stood up, grabbed her and embraced her, then began comforting her by saying soothing and encouraging words. Misty continued to cry for about 20 seconds longer, then she slowly pulled out of Joey's rather comfortable embrace. She sat back down on the ground and sighed heavily again, then she slowly began talking again. (Joey sat down too)  
  
"My sisters has this terrible, life-threating disease. Doctors don't have any idea what the disease is because they've never seen anything like it before, but a scientist agreed to help find a cure for it. This person isn't an established scientist with a degree and everything, but she demands 3 million dollars before she even began researching for a treatment," Misty told him. Joey (surprisingly) finished the rest for her.  
  
"So you were earning star chips so that you could compete in the tournament, win the prize money, then have your sisters cured of their disease."  
  
"Yeah, but now I can't because Mai took all of my star chips." Joey and Misty sat there for a while, then suddenly, Joey jumped up with an idea in his head.  
  
"Misty, get on your feet," Joey ordered.  
  
"Huh? But... but why?" Misty asked.  
  
"Just do it, we're going to find Mai."  
  
"But what good will that do?" Misty inquired while getting up from the ground.  
  
"You'll see. Okay, where was the last place you and Mai was, maybe she's still there?"  
  
"Um, it was over here, follow me," Misty told him and walked off in the direction of her and Mai's dueling site, a.k.a. the cave. It took them a little while, but they arrived at the cave's entrance. Misty stopped right in front of it. "This was where we dueled."  
  
Joey looked around until he spotted a trail of continuous shoeprints leading somewhere. "These shoeprints must be Mai's! C'mon, let go follow 'em!" Joey sprinted off following the prints. Misty ran after him, wondering just what good was all this going to do.  
  
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"I'll be a gentleman to you; I'm allowing you to go first," Brock told Yolanda, and she smirked.  
  
"Thank you," she replied, then looked at the 5 cards in her hand. She then pulled one up. "Hmm, this card should do it. Okay, brace yourself, because I call upon the Petite Angel!" she said and slammed the card down.  
  
"What card is this?" Brock wondered while the card was loaded. When the monster appeared on the field, he saw all. The Petite Angel was a little pink, balloon looking creature with white wings mounted on its back and a golden circle which floated above it's head. The creature then made a petite squeaking sound (much like the sound of a Rubber ducky when you press on it) as it's battle cry.  
  
ATK: 600 DEF: 250 (Forgive me if the Petite's Angel's ATK and DEF points are slightly off; I haven't seen the episode in which it was in in a long time, mainly because Kids WB don't show it much in the Monday-Friday reruns; they're always showing Yugi and Pegasus dueling each other)  
  
Brock burst out into hysterical laughter. "What kind of card is that? Now I see how that guy scored a flawless victory when he dueled you. You'll never get anywhere with cards like that!" Brock said as he continued to laugh unstoppably and uncontrollably.  
  
"You may be laughing now, but I promise you, you won't be for long! Make your move!" Yolanda demanded.  
  
Brock was now forcing himself to stop laughing. He pulled a card from his hand, still snickering. There was still hints of laughter in his voice as he spoke. "As you wish. I choose this card, Electric Lizard, in attack mode!" Brock placed the card down and the Electric Lizard appeared on the field.  
  
ATK: 850 DEF: 800  
  
"Electric Lizard, attack!" Brock commanded. The monster growled and sent a small bolt of lightning directed right toward the Petite Angel, but it flapped it wings swiftly and managed to dodge the attack, squeaking cowardly. Brock was rolling with laughter as the lizard dished 2 more bolts at it, but the Angel successfully dodged them. The fourth bolt whacked it full force, and the monster shattered.  
  
"No, my monster!" Yolanda's eyes bucked open.  
  
Yolanda's Life Points- 1750  
  
She frowned and said, "You haven't won this, yet Brock. Prepare to meet Saggi the Dark Clown, in attack mode!" Yolanda put the card down, and the wacky clown appeared laughing wickedly, yet crazily and jokily at the same time.  
  
ATK: 600 DEF: 1500  
  
Yolanda slapped down 1 extra card. "And with the magic of Negative Energy, my dark clown's attack power is doubled, meaing it's raised 600 points (ATK: 1200), making it stronger than before. Say adios to that lizard. Saggi the Dark Clown, attack!" she told the monster. It did as told and formed a black void in its hands, then hurled the attack at the Electric Lizard. The attack struck the monster head on and it screamed before vanishing off the field in a strange swirling effect.  
  
Brock's Life Points- 1650  
  
"Well, well, you're actually ahead of me, by 100 points," Brock commented.  
  
"Yes, and I intend for it to stay that way!" Yolanda said boldly and stuck her neck high in the air.  
  
"Confident, aren't we?" Brock spoke while drawing a new card from his deck. He looked it over, then looked back at Yolanda and smirked. "Well, get yourself ready for this!" Brock placed the card down. "Thunder Dragon, in attack mode! And I'm placing a card face down onto the field!" Brock yelled. The Thunder Dragon materialized onto the field, and the hidden card's holocard loaded face-down.  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1500  
  
"Thunder Dragon, destroy that clown with Dark Thunder attack (?)!" Brock commanded. The Thunder Dragon charged up and released the attack. The bolt hit Saggi the Dark Clown full force, and the clown shrieked in pain before exploding in tiny pieces.  
  
Yolanda's Life Points- 1450  
  
Brock smirked and quipped, "Look whose losing now."  
  
"That won't be for long!" Yolanda shot back immaturely and drew her next card. [Winged Dragon: Guardian of The Fortress. It won't be able to defeat Thunder Dragon, but I might be able to trick Brock into attacking the creature, and then he'll fall into my trap.] After drawing two more cards from her hand, she placed them down. "Okay, I'm placing three cards onto the field, all of them face-down." The three face-down holocards loaded in the appropiate spots to intimidate Brock. Brock began to think this over.  
  
[I've seen this kind of move a bunch of times in my duels. One of those cards might be some type of trap layed down to go with that face-down monster. The monster itself could be strong enough to withstand Thunder Dragon's attack, so I'd better not risk attacking with it. Instead I should play another card.] Brock drew a card from his deck, then grabbed a card from his hand. "Perfect, I play the Reaper of The Cards, in attack mode! And I'm adding Rush Recklessly to it which increases its attack power by 700!" Brock threw the cards down onto the card reader in front of him, causing the monster to come out on the field.  
  
ATK: 2080 DEF: 1930  
  
"Reaper of The Cards, slice 'em and dice 'em, now!" Reaper of The Cards did as told and prepared to attack the Winged Dragon. Just as it was about to strike, Yolanda activated her secret trap card.  
  
"Oh, you walked right into a trap, baby. I invoke the Spellbinding Circle!" she shouted. A golden star formed around Soul Reaper and stopped it dead in its tracks, and a blue aura appeared around it, ensuring that it couldn't move.  
  
"No! My Reaper of The Cards!" Brock gasped.  
  
"Didn't think I was going to strategize and plan ahead, did you? Let's just say my duel with that guy helped me clear my head. And don't forget, your monster loses 700 of its attack points, plus 700 more points since the magic card you played wears off after 1 turn anyway," she finished and laughed tauntingly.  
  
ATK: 680  
  
"And now, I'll flip my face-down monster face-up, and in attack mode!" she announced while doing so. The hidden card turned out to be Winged Dragon: Guardian of the Fortress. Go, Winged Dragon, Fireball Attack!!" Yolanda screeched and her monster showed its obedience by launching a large fireball straight into the heart of the bound Reaper of the Cards, obliterating it and a large chunk of Brock's life points.  
  
Brock's Life Points- 930  
  
"Ouch! I had no idea my trap would work that good! You're trailing by 520 points! However did that happen?" she jeered and giggled in delight.  
  
[Yolanda's a far better duelist than I anticipated. That Petite Angel stuff was just a ploy to get me to let my guard down. Now she's knocked my life points to 930, and she's over 500 points ahead of me. She's improved a whole lot since I saw her at that tourmanent. If I wanna win this, I'd better make a good move that'll count.] "My Thunder Dragon is still strong enough to take down your guardian. "Thunder Dragon, attack!" Brock shouted, and the monster unleashed its attack at the Winged Dragon. In the rush, Brock forgot about Yolanda's other card, which she promptly flipped.  
  
"I hid yet another magic card from you, Waboku!" Yolanda annouced. Waboku's magic reduced the Thunder Dragon's attack strength to 0, so when the bolt struck the Winged Dragon, no damage was done. "Well, I've just rendered that attack useless. Now its my turn, let's see here," she reached down and drew her next card, then placed it down onto the field to make it began its materialization. "Allright! I call out the Dark Magician, attack mode!"  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100  
  
"Think you can predict what happens now, Brocky boy?" Brock didn't answer, but instead he snarled at her. "Dark Magician, attack the Thunder Dragon now! Dark Magic Attack!" Yolanda's Dark Magician powered up its staff and fired a powerful purple beam right into Thunder Dragon, which shattered upon impact.  
  
Brock's Life Points- 30  
  
Yolanda burst out into laughter. "Look at you, Brocky boy, you're down to 30 life points. You might as well call it quits, hmm?" she teased and Brock scowled in response.  
  
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Dow in the bowels of Pegasus's castle, a guard finished hooking Morty up to a machine. He turned it on, and some grinded food started to enter into Morty's stomach. Since the man wouldn't eat anything, Pegasus had to improvise and force the neccessary nutrients into him to keep him alive. The guard walked out of the cell and activated the force field, then returned to his post. For a while, everything was silent. The eerie surroundings of the dungeon cells only added to the silence, and it gave a distinct 'I'm deep under the earth, all alone' feeling. Suddenly, some footsteps clanked across the floor. They were heading toward the cell. The sudden noise caused Morty to arouse. He blinked to help clear his vision and wondered who it was that was coming. He figured it was Pegasus, since he was the only person around who had a reason to come see him. The force field deactivated, and a woman crossed the threshold into the cell. To Morty's utter surprise, it was Jasmine! Her pastel pink hair flowed down her back gorgeously. She was wearing a loose, rose-colored dress which reached her ankles, with white sandals on her feet. She approached Morty, smiling.  
  
"It's been so long, darling," she whispered.  
  
Morty couldn't believe his eye sight. Was it really her? Had she really come to set him free like he hoped? Or what if it was a trick from Pegasus? "Jasmine... is it.. really you?" he asked in a shaky voice.  
  
"Of course, honey, it's me. I've come to see you free," she returned. She approached Morty and rubbed her hand across his bare chest. He winced when she accidentally touched a large burn (from the grease Pegasus threw on him a little while ago). "Oops, baby, I'm sorry," she apologized.  
  
"It's... it's all right," he replied.  
  
Jasmine sighed heavily. "Tell me, Morty, why did Pegasus kidnap you in the first place?"  
  
Morty shook his head and sighed. "Listen, I'll tell you, but first, we need to get out of here," he rushed out.  
  
"No, no, I wanna know. No one's coming, Morty. I incapacitated all the guards. And I don't think Pegasus is even in the castle right now. So, why avoid the question? Did you do something to make Pegasus kidnap you? Is there something going on I should know about?"  
  
"I didn't do anything to provoke Pegasus!" Morty exclaimed in a soft tone of voice. "He started all this by abducting me from my house."  
  
"But why?"  
  
"I have no idea! He's mad!" Morty answered. "Listen, we need to escape."  
  
"Is it because of the Millenium Key?" she asked while touching it.  
  
"Y... you know about the key?"  
  
"Yes, honey, I had my ways of finding out. If you gave it to me, I could store it in my S.C.T for safekeeping. That way, Pegasus won't have a chance at getting it," Jasmine offered.  
  
"You don't have to worry about that. Pegasus can't get the key off my neck. He's tried to already. The Millenium Key won't come off my neck unless..." his voice trailed off. He shook his head and spoke, "C'mon, Jasmine! Hurry up and get me down from here!"  
  
"I'm trying to!" Jasmine retorted. "It's gonna take me a while to pick these locks," she said while doing so. Jasmine picked at the locks, but so far, hadn't had any luck in unlocking them. She cursed to herself as she kept trying, getting more and more frustrated by the second. Eventually, she got them. "I got them! I got them!" she exclaimed. Morty landed on his feet since he had been hanging on the wall. Jasmine unhooked him from the machine. She started to walk away, but without warning, Morty lashed out and grabbed her by the neck. "Hey, what are you doing?!"  
  
Jasmine struggled to get away, but Morty grabbed the key and held it onto her forehead, activating its powers. Jasmine stopped moving; she had been put into a trance. Morty closed his eyes, and the Millenium Key whisked him away into the cooridors of Jasmine's head. Morty didn't fully trust what he saw nowadays, and he had to be sure whether Jasmine was really there, or was it someone else. Morty saw visions of a shocked Pegasus within her. "Hey, what are you doing here?!" he asked. "Get out of..."  
  
"This isn't really Jasmine, it's you, just like I suspected!" exclaimed Morty. "That's why you were so bent on finding out why 'Pegasus' kidnapped me and why you wanted me to give the key to you! No matter what you try, you'll never get this key from me, you selfish prick!" Morty had seen all he needed to see now. He opened his eyes, which returned him to the real world. "Jasmine" Pegasus continued trying to get away as Morty began choking him.  
  
"Croquet! Croquet! Croquet!!" Pegasus shouted as loud as he could. In case the plan went awry, Pegasus had guards stationed outside. They burst into the room, and fired multiple tranquilizer darts into Morty before he could do anything. Although Morty struggled to stay conscious, the medicine took over and he drifted into unconsciousness. Pegasus easily escaped his grip and sighed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Chain him back up and hook him back to the machine," he ordered, then walked off, heading back to his room. This was getting very tiresome. Pegasus wanted the Millenium Key, and he wanted it now.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Mai walked gracefully through the forest with her neck high in the air. Seto Kaiba had met with her and gave her the reward, now she was on her way to verify her success wth the administrators. Finally, she had enough star chips to register for the tournament. Mai was beaming inside. Of course, she was closer to completing her mission, but there were many other reasons why she was glad she had the stars, too. She was going to be rich, very rich. Nothing was going to stop her from reaching her true objective. Mai began to imagine about what she would do and have. She would have a huge, deluxe, state-of-the-art mansion built utop a steep hill overlooking the entire Domino City metropolitan area. Beautiful meadows and gardens would be situated outside, and butlers and maids would be cooking and cleaning her house. There would be all kinds of furniture inside, a huge game room consisting of tons of party games, parlor games, board games, puzzle games, video games, everything. And it would all belong to her and only her. Mai smiled as she continued down the dirt path, her spirits high and swelled with pride. All of a sudden, someone shouted at her and snatched her from her thoughts.  
  
"Hey, Mai, where do you think you're going?!" the person screamed.  
  
Mai whirled around to face Joey, with Misty standing by his side. "Got a boyfriend, huh, Misty?" she asked, but was ignored. "Hey, aren't you that blonde bimbo Joey that knocked my pizza on the floor at that restaurant?"  
  
"Yeah, that's me," Joey answered. "Listen, that was rude, nasty, and insensitive of you to do this woman like that Mai! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Joey told her.  
  
"Do you really think that hurts me, Joey boy? Why are you and your stupid, scrawny friend pestering me?"  
  
"I am not scrawny!!" Misty was clearly offended by Mai's insult.  
  
"Because you took something from my friend, and now I'm going to get it back," declared Joey.  
  
"What are you talking about? I haven't taken anything from your friend over there, but I will be glad when you two get out of my face!" Mai exclaimed and began to walk away.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Joey quickly ran after her, grabbed her, and spun her back around. "Guess what, Mai? You and I are going to have a little duel," Joey stated.  
  
Mai burst out into laughter. "A duel with you?! Who do you think I am? The fact that you even suggested me dueling you is atrocious!"  
  
"No, you're just too chicken to duel me, that's what it is."  
  
"I am not a chicken; I just don't have time or any reason to duel you, punk!" Mai yelled.  
  
"Yes, you are, or you would duel me! You think you're such a hotshot, why don't you prove it to me. Have a duel with me and do your worst. As a matter of a fact, I'll even put up three of my cards on this match, and if you win, you'll can have them," Joey stated.  
  
"Hmm, now that is something worth dueling for. You know what? Since you had the guts to barge over here and demand a duel, I'm going to give it to you. I accept your challenge. Besides, no one calls me a chicken and get away with it! How many star chips?!" Mai asked.  
  
"Nine will be fine."  
  
"What? Nine star chips? You must be crazy, you only have six!" (she could tell by looking at his glove)  
  
"I know, but like I said before: I'll give you three of my cards to compensate for the three stars."  
  
"Joey!" Misty chimed, "Don't be crazy, if you lose you'll lose all your chips and three of your cards!"  
  
"I'm not going to lose, Misty," Joey assured her, but that still didn't help Misty calm down.  
  
"Will I be able to choose which cards I want?" Mai inquired.  
  
"Affirmative."  
  
"Then what are we waiting for, let's get this over with!" Mai searched through her S.C.T, looking for her dueling device. Misty walked up to Joey and tapped his shoulder.  
  
"Joey?"  
  
"Yeah?" Joey turned around to face Misty.  
  
"Here," Misty said and gave him four cards.  
  
"Huh? What are these for?"  
  
"To help you in your duel. I'm trying to help ensure your victory."  
  
Mai looked up and saw what Misty was trying to do. "Oh, and one more thing: if you want to duel me, then I don't want any interferance from the girl!" Mai announced.  
  
"Hey, witch, if I want to help Joey, then I can! There's nothing you can do about it!" Misty shouted.  
  
"Listen, girl, I'm the one with the stars you want. I have the upper hand over you. I don't have to be giving you a fighting chance to get the stars you lost back, so if you want them, I don't want you helping Joey, or giving him any cards out of your deck, understood? If you can't follow these rules, then no duel."  
  
"I've have enough of being pushed around like a rag doll!" Misty yelled and charged for Mai, but Joey grabbed her and held her back.  
  
"No! If you do that, you'll never get your stars back! Listen, we agree. She won't help me!" Joey told Mai, who nodded.  
  
"A wise decision," she answered while strapping on her purple dueling system. Mai placed her deck into the deck keeper and powered up the system. Joey grabbed his red console and did the same. The stage was now set.  
  
***Joey's/Mai's Life Points- 2000***  
  
"Here we go, it's showdown time," Mai said as she drew five cards. Joey drew his first five cards also. The color cooridinated field grid appeared in front of them as always (red for Joey, purple for Mai). "So, who will go first?" Joey asked.  
  
"A game of 'Guess My Number' will decide that. I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 15. If your answer is a number that's within two digits of the number I'm thinking of, you can go first. Take for example, the number 4. If the number you guess are one of the two digits before and after 4, which is 2, 3, 5, and 6, then you can go first, understand? (Joey nodded) Okay, what number am I thinking of?" Mai stared Joey in the eyes while asking.  
  
"Um... 9," he answered.  
  
"The number I was thinking of was: 11. Since 9 is the second closest digit to 11, I guess you go first, Joey. Now let's get this show on the road."  
  
"All right, let's duel!" Joey shouted as he played his first card. "I'll play the Baby Dragon card in attack mode!" he said, summoning the Baby Dragon.  
  
ATK: 1200 DEF: 1000  
  
"That's all you're playing? Your loss, because now I'm attacking with Harpie Lady, in attack mode! I'm also playing a card face-down onto the field!" Mai shouted and slapped down the two cards. She watched her Harpie Lady appear on the field.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1400  
  
"Harpie Lady, slash that Baby Dragon!" Mai commanded, and her Harpie Lady carried out the order, slashing the Baby Dragon and causing it to shatter into pieces.  
  
"No, my dragon!" Joey exclaimed.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 1900  
  
Joey growled at Mai and fished around with his deck, then pulled out another card. "I didn't even get to play my combo. Oh well. Hmm... this time I'm playing, the Axe Raider (slapped down card) in attack mode!" The Axe Raider loaded onto the field and snarled at Harpie Lady.  
  
ATK: 1700 DEF: 1500  
  
"Axe Raider, go! Use Wind Blades!!" Joey shouted. The Axe Raider charged towards the frightened Harpie Lady, and its blade was raised in the air, ready for the blow. Mai chucked under her breath and waited until the last moment, then flipped over her face-down card. The Axe Raider slashed the Harpie Lady, but nothing happened.  
  
"Why didn't the Harpy Lady shatter?" Joey was puzzled.  
  
"Because right before your monster attacked mine, I activated Cyber Shield which increased my Harpie Lady's attack power by 500 points." Numerous gold shield pieces appeared on Harpie Lady's left leg, right leg, left shoulder, right shoulder, and chest. Afterwards, she shrilled and took a stance.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 900  
  
"Now Harpie Lady, slash the Axe Raider, now!" The Harpie Lady charged over to Axe Raider and gave it a good slashing with her long, razor-sharp claws. Axe Raider couldn't weather the attack and shattered afterwards, along with it's holocard it was standing on.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 1800  
  
Joey growled. He lost his Axe Raider and another 100 life points. It was time to turn the tables. Mai cackled with joy. "Didn't think little Mai wouldn't be much to handle, hunh, Joey?"  
  
"Shut up, Mai. You won't be laughing for long."  
  
"And I'm supposed to be like, scared now? Ohh, I'm trembling. I'm terrified. The little blonde runt's going to defeat me!" Mai laughed even harder. "Go ahead, punk. Make your next move."  
  
"Hey, watch your mouth, you tramp!" Joey countered.  
  
"TRAMP?!!" Mai growled in disgust. "How dare you call me a tramp, I'll crush you for that!!!"  
  
"Allright, time to put an end to your Harpie Lady charade." Joey drew his next card, then smiled and pulled up a card from his hand. He proceeded to place the two cards onto the card reader. "Now I'm calling out, the Flame Swordsman, in attack mode! And with the magic of Salamandra, its attack power raises 700 points!" Joey's Flame Swordsman materialized onto the field and growled.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 1600  
  
"Oh no! The sword guy's points are higher than my Harpie Lady's!" Mai acknowledged.  
  
"You're right, time for Harpie Lady to go bye-bye. Attack with Salamandra Flame Strike!" Joey ordered his monster. The Flame Swordsman thrusted out its sword and released a fire dragon at Harpie Lady. The fire engulfed the Harpie Lady and made it shatter into pieces.  
  
Mai's Life Points- 1300  
  
"Good job, Joey!" Misty commented, and Joey gave her a thumbs up, along with a wink.  
  
"I lost 700 life points, and my Harpie Lady," Mai whined, obviously not liking the current outcome of the duel.  
  
"And your going to lose more," Joey said confidently.  
  
Mai drew a card from her deck, then her frown turned upside down. Her lips curved into a smirk. She then drew another card from her hand and placed the cards down onto the reader (one was face-down). "Okay, the Harpie Lady may be gone, but now I play Reborn the Monster to resurrect her from the graveyard!" The Reborn the Monster card's face transformed into Harpie Lady's card, and Mai's Harpie Lady returned to the field shrieking.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1400  
  
Joey laughed and said, "Is that all you can do? Flame Swordsman's attack power is way higher than Harpie Lady's, but that's your loss. Flame Swordsman at..." Joey then stopped. "Wait a minute. Mai's probably hidin' something, and I've gotta find out what it is. But should I attack? She could have a trap waiting for me the moment I come over there. But what if the face-down card she's played can affect me, even though I don't declare an attack? Or maybe she laid it out to intimidate me and scare me off from attacking so I won't obliterate her life points. What should I do? I think I know what," Joey said. Mai just looked him in the eye and did one of her famous chuckles.  
  
"Oh, I should attack! I don't like the way she's looking at me," Joey murmered to himself, then heard another chuckle. "Ah, that's it. I'm gonna..." Joey was about to give a command, but he stopped.  
  
"Joey, what are you going to do?" Misty inquired, and Joey shook his head.  
  
"I dunno. I'm too skeptical about that face-down card she's played. Ah, I'm gonna attack! Go, Flame Swordsman, Salamandra Flame Strike!!" Joey shouted and his monster fired the fire dragon at the monster.  
  
Mai chuckled. "Big mistake, Joey. I knew you couldn't resist the urge to attack me and put a large gap between our life points. Unforunately, for you, my hidden card was this trap called, Mirror Wall," she stated.  
  
"Hunh? Oh no!" Joey watched his Swordsman's attack smacked straight into the wall, causing it to meet an equal attack from the reflection of itself in the wall. "Huh, what happened to my monster?"  
  
"Joey, you imbecile, don't you know the power of the Mirror Wall? It stops all monsters dead in their tracks and cuts their attack and defense power in half!" she announced.  
  
ATK: 1250 DEF: 800  
  
"Enough for my standard Harpie Lady to do away with, but first, I'll place another card face-down," she said and slapped down the card, causing a holocard to appear face-down in the slot. "Harpie Lady, you know what to do!" she shouted. The Mirror Wall lowered and allowed her Harpie Lady to slash the weakened swordsman, which resulted in a shattering.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 1750  
  
"For all your talk, you only took down my score by 50 points."  
  
"Points, schmoints, no matter how much I took off this round, I've still taken 250 points off total. Your turn," she said. Joey drew a card from his deck and put it down. "This card's strong enough to get Harpie Lady. Garoozis, attack mode!" Garoozis and its holocard loaded into battle and growled.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500  
  
"Go, Garoozis, attack the Harpie Lady now!" Garoozis charged toward Harpie Lady to destroy it. All of a sudden, the Mirror Wall rose back up to protect the monster. "What's happening?!"  
  
"You idiot! Don't you realize that Mirror Wall is a permanent trap?! You've just wasted a turn," Mai cackled as Garoozis slashed the wall five times in the shape of a star, but its reflection delivered an equal attack.  
  
ATK: 900 DEF: 750  
  
"Ha! Ha! Ha! You gullible fool. Harpie Lady, go!" Mai's monster instantly delivered a fatal slash to Garoozis and shattered it into pieces.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 1350  
  
"Now you're only 50 points away from me, Joey. What do you have to say, now?" she teased. Joey didn't respond and she chuckled. "Now its time for Part 2 of my Harpie Lady combo to be put in effect," Mai said and giggled in delight. She drew a card out of her hand and threw it down. "Another Cyber Shield, which remakes my Harpie Lady and give it 500 more attack points!" The shield pieces all materialized on Harpie Lady's legs, shoulders and chest, and she screeched in delight.  
  
ATK: 1800  
  
"You're turn."  
  
Joey snarled at Mai and drew for a card. He looked at it, then looked out at the field. Mirror Wall's holocard was still laying there, which meant that the card was still active. No matter what card he drew, he wouldn't be able to get past Mai's Mirror Wall. "So the only thing I can do is go defensive. Battle Warrior, in defense mode!" Joey slammed down the card and loaded the weak monster into the duel.  
  
ATK: 700 DEF: 1000  
  
Mai burst out into hysterical and uncontrollable laughter, and Joey frowned. "Hey, what's so funny?! If you think you're about to win this duel, you're wrong! This duel is far from over!"  
  
Mai continued laughing obnoxiously. Joey and Misty looked at each other. "She doesn't seem phased by that, Joey," Misty muttered.  
  
"You don't think I just screwed up big time, do you?"  
  
"I don't see how. All you did was place a monster in defense mode, what's so funny about that?" Misty wondered. Mai continued laughing uncontrollably. "Hey, what's so funny, witch?!" Misty yelled, and Mai finally began calming herself down.  
  
"Hey, watch your mouth, tramp! Anyway, if you really wanna know what I'm laughing at, I'll be more than eager to let you see. Brace yourselves," she warned them, then turned over her hidden card. "The card I played face-down was this, Shadow of Eyes! Its special power is the ability to lure any monster in battle!" she explained and laughed, and Joey gasped.  
  
"Oh no, my monster's about to attack the Harpie Lady and as soon as it does, Mirror Wall's gonna rise up to protect it, causing my monster's attack and defense points to get reduced! No, Battle Warrior, stop! Please, resist the spell!" Joey urged, but Battle Warrior would not listen to him. "Battle Warrior, you have to stop!"  
  
"Joey, you're monster can't resist the thrall of the Shadow of Eyes even if it wanted to. Come here, Battle Warrior. Come get your big sis!" Mai called out, and Battle Warrior charged towards Harpie Lady.  
  
"NO!! Get back!!" Joey shouted, but it wouldn't listen. Mai laughed heartily as Mirror Wall rose up to protect Harpie Lady. The Battle Warrior punched the wall and received an equal attack from its reflection, and thus it was stopped dead in its tracks.  
  
ATK: 350 DEF: 500  
  
"Now, here's the funniest part! As you know, when a monster attack and kills another monster, the amount of life points deducted are determined by how much of a difference the two monster's attack powers were. Harpie Lady's attack strength is 1800, while Battle Warrior is now at 350. Do the math... and you figure up a 1450 attack point difference! Joey, how many life points are currently in your bin?" Mai asked, and his face took on a sick look.  
  
"NO!!!" he yelled, and Misty gasped in surprise.  
  
"That's the funniest part!" Mai burst into laughter again, then shouted, "Harpie Lady, do away with Battle Warrior now!" The Mirror Wall lowered once again to allow Harpie Lady passage. It charged straight at the defenseless Battle Warrior.  
  
"Oh no..." Joey's voice trailed off as he sunk to the ground. "I failed... Misty, I failed... I'm so sorry..." he said and watched as Harpie Lady delivered the final slash which ended the duel. Battle Warrior erupted into hundreds of tiny pieces, and the duel was now over.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 0  
  
"My life points, I lost!" Joey's eyes bucked open in shock. Misty covered her mouth and sighed. Joey lost... He lost all his star chips trying to win back hers. Misty felt very sick inside as she watched the holograms dissappear. Joey reluctantly ejected his stars from the glove and threw them over to Mai. She picked them up and dropped them in her pocket. She put her deck in her pocket too, then starting spinning around, joyfully.  
  
"I won! I won!" she continued to spin around in glee. Joey looked through his deck and found the Copycat Card. He didn't want Mai to have this card, so he quickly stashed the card into his pocket. He would've stashed away the Red Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull, too, but she approached him before he could.  
  
"I'm not giving you any cards," he stated, which caught Mai off guard.  
  
"Pardon me?" Mai asked, making sure she heard correctly.  
  
"I said I'm not giving you any cards," Joey verified his statement.  
  
"Hey, buster, you agreed to give me three of your cards if you lost to make up for the three star chips I wouldn't receive."  
  
"I change my mind, you're not getting any cards," Joey said flatly.  
  
"I see. I guess you don't know what I'll do if you don't give me the cards."  
  
"What will you do?"  
  
"You see, Joey, I'm not a woman to be messed with. I have connections, and I'll use them. How would you like to be framed for murder? See, I know people, and they can forge up some fake records, papers, footage of you killing someone, and notify the police. Do you really wanna spend the rest of your life either running from the police or getting raped by the gay men in the pen? You know you're far too bony to put up much of a fight. So, what will it be: Give up three of your cards and have a nice day, or spend what will feel like an eternity behind bars with gays? It's your choice," she threated.  
  
"You can't do that," retorted Joey.  
  
"Wanna bet?" Mai asked in a dark tone of voice. "Do you really wanna take that chance?"  
  
"Just give her the cards, Joey, don't call her bluff," Misty told him.  
  
Joey sighed and frowned angrily, then spoke, "Which card would you like?"  
  
"A wise decision, yet again," she commented, and both Joey and Misty scowled at her. "Hmm... let's see," Mai looked them over for a moment then decided. "I'll take the Red Eyes Black Dragon, the Summoned Skull, and last but not least, the Flame Swordsman," Mai took them all out of Joey's hands, then turned and started walking away. She then stopped and looked back at him.  
  
"You know, your girlfriend fared better against me than you when she dueled me." she chuckled and continued walking away. Joey was now very angry. He threw a nearby rock then flung himself down on the ground.  
  
"What are we going to do now?" Misty asked.  
  
"I don't know. Board the escort boat off the island."  
  
"There has to be another way. I know, let's take the star chips back." Misty suggested.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"When Mai's all asleep, we could go and take our star chips back.  
  
"But that would be stealin', and she'll just call the Ruby Island security."  
  
"That slut won't know that we did it," Misty took a seat next to Joey. "They won't know it was us, nobody will see us. She won't, they won't. Then we could stay in the tournament."  
  
"It could've worked, but I read something in a brochure I received on the cruise ship. Unfortunately, there's a special tracking system on all the stars used in the tournament. When you have stars, they are registered under your name. When they get taken from you in a duel, the tracking system updates so that the stars will be registered under the new user (that's because you throw the stars down when you bet them in a duel). But, if you try to steal them and use them for yourselves, the stars won't be registered under your name; they'll still be registered by the person who rightfully obtained them. So, if we steal them, she can call security and tell them to track down the stars under her name. They'll eventually find us, and then we'll get arrested, so that's won't work," Joey explained. There was silence for twenty seconds, then Joey got another idea.  
  
"Wait a minute. Yugi, he might be able help us."  
  
"Yugi? You mean the little kid on the boat?"  
  
"Yeah, him. He'll find a way to help us for sure. C'mon, let's find him!" Joey got up and walked off, and Misty followed him.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi was claiming three star chips from another duelist. "Hey, it was a great match and you're a very good duelist," the man said to him.  
  
"Thanks, and you were good yourself."  
  
"Good luck on your journey," the man said and left, then Yugi sighed afterwards. So far, so good. He had ten star chips now. Just five more and he'd be on his way to the tournament. Yugi sat down under an apple tree and looked through his deck. So far, his Grandfather's deck was proving its usefulness in this whole ordeal.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Ash was still undergoing his meditation. He looked like was at peace, so Geoff got off the cushion he was sitting on and quietly stepped outside. He took a deep breath of air, then exhaled deeply. The air on the island was really clean; it was much better air quality there than back in the city. Geoff was getting rather bored of watching Ash sitting there with his eyes shut, so he decided to find someone to duel. He walked away from the tint, heading down toward the more popular dueling sites. He hoped the next duelist he fought would put up a good fight. This was one of the many reasons Geoff came to participate in this tournament: He needed a good challenge. Everyone around his neighborhood were airheaded, inexperienced noobs who couldn't put up as good a challenge as a 4-year old could. He wanted a duelist who could really give him a run for his money. He wanted someone who could really make him think about his moves. As of late, all the duels he'd been in were walks in the park. Geoff continued walking, whistling a tune while doing so. After he was out of sight, a familiar person stepped out of the bushes. And this person just happened to be the one and only Seto Kaiba. He slipped some brass knuckles on his hand, then crept toward the tint. He carefully peeped into the opening to see Ash sitting indian-style on the floor, with his back facing toward him. Seto smirked deviously.  
  
[Just the way I need you,] he thought to himself. He quietly crept toward Ash, being extremely careful not to make one sound. However, Ash still managed to hear his footsteps. He snapped his eyes open and whirled his head around to see Seto standing there. He started getting to his feet, but Seto didn't leave him a chance. He grabbed Ash by his hair and punched him straight in the face as hard as he could, which knocked the boy out. He fell onto the ground, and Seto smirked. He checked his dueling glove to find seven stars in it. He grinned, then started dragging Ash out of the tint...  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
***Brock's Life Points- 30/Yolanda's Life Points- 1450  
  
Brock scanned the battlefield, and racked his mind trying to think of any play that could get him out of this predicament. "C'mon, Brocky boy, what's taking so long for you to make your move? I know why, it's because you know I have the advantange over you," Yolanda giggled in delight. "Oh, it feels so good to be winning."  
  
[What am I going to do? I could try to attempt the Black Luster Ritual, but it's risky enough as is. I can't possibly pull it off with 30 life points. There has to be something in my deck to help me out. If I don't draw a card that'll reinforce my life points, she'll most likely do me in next turn. C'mon, deck, I hope I shuffled you correctly before the start of the match. I need something to bring my score back from the brink of defeat,] he thought, then reached over and drew a card. He looked it, and his face brightened up.  
  
"C'mon, pretty boy, make your move!"  
  
"And that's what I'll do. (draws 3 more cards out of hand) First off, I've got 2 more Thunder Dragons to put on the field, which I'll do now!" Brock slapped down both cards and brought them forth into battle.  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1500  
  
"Then, I'll lay out this trap card called Gift of the Mystical Elf, (Yolanda gasps) which will give me 300 life points for every monster that's currently out on the field, even yours! Looks this I'm not gone after all, hunh Yolanda?" Brock teased back at her while his card went to work. Enchanted fairy dust sprung from the card and showered all over Brock, then his life points began to raise.  
  
Brock's Life Points- 1230  
  
Brock sighed deeply. "That puts me back in the game. And for my final move... (slaps down last card) ...I'm using the magic of this polymerization card to merge my two Thunder Dragons into one, powerful monster!" Bright light flashed as the monsters began phasing into a swirling effect. Within moments, a new dragon had found its way onto the field. "Yolanda, I introduce you to the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!"  
  
ATK: 2800 DEF: 2100  
  
"Aah! This is bad!" whined Yolanda.  
  
"You think its bad now? Wait until you see it unleash its might on that Dark Magician of yours. Allright, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, let's avenge the death of your predecesor. Destroy the Dark Magician with Proton Thunder Blast (?)!!" The two heads of the dragon charged a large lighting bolt in their mouths, then fired the destructive bolts straight into the Dark Magician, utterly obliterating it from the field. Winds plastered against Yolanda due to the awesome power of the monster.  
  
Yolanda's Life Points- 1150  
  
"Aw.. look at you. Your pride has been hurt, hasn't it?" jeered Brock. He slapped hands with Tristan and smiled.  
  
"That was a brilliant comeback, good job," he commented.  
  
"Thanks, but that all it is, a comeback. This duel isn't over yet, which means Yolanda still has a chance to strike back. It's her turn now, let's see what she's gonna do," Brock said and stared at Yolanda. She looked over her hand, then looked back at Brock.  
  
"I choose to end my turn without playing anything. Make a move," she stated.  
  
"As you wish," Brock muttered, then reached down and grabbed a card. Upon looking at it, his grin grew into an even bigger grin. [This Crush Card Virus would clinch the match for me. Yolanda would be done for if I can manage to get it onto the field. And I think I know just how. All I've got to do is give Yolanda some healthy prey to sink her teeth into.] Drawing a card, he placed it down onto the field. "I call out the Armed Ninja, in attack mode! And I lay another card face-down!" The two holocards appeared, and Armed Ninja jumped out of its card, staring at Yolanda.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 300  
  
"That's all you're doing? Well, I don't know what you played face down, but I'll have to hope for the best. With such a weak monster on the field, I can flush a lot of your life points. (slaps down card) Water Omotics, attack mode!" The holocard loaded into the center slot and released the monster into battle.  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200  
  
"With such a big difference in the attack strengths of our monsters, I can knock you down to 130 points. Water Omotics, get rid of the Armed Ninja!" Yolanda called out. The Water Omotics conjured a wave out of the ground and directed it right at the ninja. It struck the ninja, but before it drowned, Brock's magic card activated. Afterwards, the virus was released into the air.  
  
"Wha... wha... what's happening?"  
  
"I decided to infect my Armed Ninja with the Crush Card, a magic virus which restricts you from using any monster that has attack power greater than 1500."  
  
"No, that's impossible! This can't be happening to me!" Yolanda gasped.  
  
"Wake up and smell the coffee, Yolanda, because it is," Brock told her and she shook her head.  
  
"No!" True to Brock's word, the Crush Card virus began infecting all the cards in the deck quickly. The words on her deck status meter read 'virus'. "But the dragon isn't getting destroyed!"  
  
"What's the point of using the Crush Card if your monsters are affected too? The only monsters the virus affects is the adversary's, in this case, you."  
  
"No, this can't be happening, I was winning!!" she whined.  
  
"Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, attack Water Omotics!" Brock shouted. The monster powered up its lightning beams and struck Water Omotics square in the chest, therefore obliterating her off the field. "Time to make your move, Yolanda. What'll it be: forfeit the match, or play a monster and have it obliterated?" Brock smirked afterwards.  
  
"I'm not giving up this easily; I play another Saggi the Dark Clown in defense mode!" she tossed her card onto the reader and summoned her monster onto the field.  
  
ATK: 600 DEF: 1500  
  
"Is that the best monster you can muster out of that crippled deck? Thunder Dragon, obliterate it now!" The dragon charged and released its powerful bolts of thunder and lightning straight into the clown, making it shriek before exploding. No life points were deducted from Yolanda's total.  
  
"Ha! Ha, I've got this match won!" Brock exclaimed and slapped hands with Tristan.  
  
Yolanda whined. "Ohh, what do I do?" She wearily looked through her hand, and all the cards their had more than 1500 attack points. She drew a card out of her deck, and played it since it was within the limitations. "Man- Eater Bug, in defense mode." (it loaded)  
  
ATK: 450 DEF: 600  
  
"Hey, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, you know what do to. Proton Thunder Blast!!" The dragon launched the bolts of lightning right into the chest on the Man-Eater Bug and blew it off the field. Yolanda still didn't lose any life points.  
  
"Yolanda, why don't you give up? You're bound to using monsters with less than 1500 attack points, and my Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon has enough attack power at its disposal to wipe out anything you grab. Forfeit the match and save yourself some embarrassment, and time," Brock jeered.  
  
Yolanda drew another card from her deck and played it. "Kuribo, in attack mode!" The little brown furball found its way into the duel.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 200  
  
Brock laughed. "Is that all you've got? I thought Saggi was something, but this little runt? It's the weakest monster that's ever been made for the game. You can't be serious playing that, especially in attack mode?"  
  
"Just go ahead and attack it," Yolanda said, and Brock nodded.  
  
"If you insist. Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, fry that little furball now!" And that's exactly what Brock's dragon did. The lighting fired from the dragon, plastered into Kuribo and utterly obliterated it, along with Yolanda's life points.  
  
Yolanda's Life Points- 0  
  
"Allright, Brock! Good move!" Tristan exclaimed, and Brock winked at him.  
  
Yolanda sighed and frowned. She ejected her stars out of the glove and threw them over to Brock, who caught them. She then walked away from the site, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Brock powered down his system and ran over to Yolanda.  
  
"Hey, Yolanda!" he shouted, making her stop. She didn't turn around. "It was a good duel, Yolanda. You should be proud of yourself, you're a pretty good duelist," Brock said and extended a hand for her to shake. But instead she simply ran away as fast as she could, not being able to bear the fact that she'd lost. Brock frowned in disgust, then yelled after her, "Hey, I was trying to be nice!" He sighed, then turned to Tristan. "What, is my hand not good enough for her to shake?"  
  
"Forget her. Well, that makes eight star chips," Tristan said.  
  
"Yep. Looks like I'm advancing pretty well in this sub-competition. How about you, Tristan? How did you fare?"  
  
"I won 4 stars in a duel with this goth dude. He was majorly weird, and at first he seemed pretty hard, but he turned out to be easy to beat," Tristan replied to Brock's question.  
  
"Really? That's good," Brock said. "Hey, give me another orange," he requested. Tristan grabbed an orange out of the fruit bucket and gave it to Brock. He bit into it happily. "Yummy," he muttered, enjoying the sweet, fruity goodness. Tristan fetched a strawberry out of the basket and started eating it.  
  
"Man, this island really has some good fruits, wouldn't you say?" he asked.  
  
"Uh-huh. These are some of the best oranges I've had in my entire life," Brock responded. While eating their fruits, the two boys began to talk about other things, such as cars, pretty girls and their boobs, etc.  
  
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(Ending Discloser Below.)  
--Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500-- What did you think? Was it good? I sure hope so. I don't have anything to say, so goodbye. Hopefully it won't take me long to create the next episode (which will really be all-new, not a remake)! 


	14. Episode 14, 'Tribulations, Part 1'

Well, here I am with yet another episode of my fanfic, Duelists of The Future. This is not a remake of a "beta" episode, this is all-new material. I did not intend for this episode to take this long, but my computer was having major problems. Everytime I tried to open Wordpad in order to type, an error message would appear, forcing me to close it down. This prevented me from doing anything. We just rebooted our computer not too long ago and have been spending time setting things up the way they were. So, now that the computer has been rebooted and it's working properly, I am back. After re-watching "The Return of the Pharaoh" trilogy, I just realized that I made a slight mistake in Misty and Mai's duel. I thought the Revival Jam could automatically defend all attacks on its own, however, it needs a trap card called Jam Defender to accomplish that. I will correct that part when I get time (probably on my next update). Hmm... Also, I think I'm gonna go ahead and gear this book more toward the adult audience. This isn't saying that the book is going to be really perverted, I'm just saying that it will be more adult oriented. I was trying to balance the book out so that younger audiences, as well as older audiences, could enjoy this book, but many ideas are crossing my mind for later use, and they're not gonna be for children. So, I think I will up the rating to PG-13 to be safe. Also, this episode, as well as all others in the future (assuming this book last that long, which I'm hoping it will), will have quite a bit of swearing in it. Not tons of it (or all over the place, the characters won't be just SWEARING up and down), but there will be some. Like I said, now I want this book to be more adult and teen oriented. Kids can go read Winnie the Pooh fanfics. Not much else to say, other than enjoy the episode. I'm sorry if this offends some of you, but that's just way it is now.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 14, 'Tribulations, Part 1' (5/18/2003)  
  
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Previously...  
  
"There's nothing you can do to delay this, Misty. I told you I'd be the victor, and you'd be the loser, and what do you know? It's playing out just like I said it would! Now, prepare yourself Misty! Black Luster Soldier, attack Misty directly with your Chaos Blade attack!" Mai shouted defiantly. The soldier jumped into the air, then came back down and struck the ground with its sword, causing a powerful, yellow energy beam to flow through the ground. It hit Misty (picture a slow-motion scene of Misty falling toward the ground for about 3 1/2 seconds) and knocked her onto the ground, but she wasn't hurt at all. Mai cackled obnoxiously.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 0  
  
Misty looked up in time to see her life points spiral down to 0. Her face took on a look of utter shock as she layed there in disbelief. She lost... she lost the duel. It was all over, now she could never save her sisters.  
  
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"If you really wanna know what I'm laughing at, I'll be more than eager to let you see. Brace yourselves," she warned them, then turned over her hidden card. "The card I played face-down was this, Shadow of Eyes! Its special power is the ability to lure any monster in battle!" she explained and laughed, and Joey gasped.  
  
"Oh no, my monster's about to attack the Harpie Lady and as soon as it does, Mirror Wall's gonna rise up to protect it, causing my monster's attack and defense points to get reduced! No, Battle Warrior, stop!"  
  
Mai laughed heartily as Mirror Wall rose up to protect Harpie Lady. The Battle Warrior punched the wall and received an equal attack from its reflection, and thus it was stopped dead in its tracks.  
  
ATK: 350 DEF: 500  
  
Mai burst into laughter again, then shouted, "Harpie Lady, do away with Battle Warrior now!" The Mirror Wall lowered once again to allow Harpie Lady passage. It charged straight at the defenseless Battle Warrior.  
  
"Oh no..." Joey's voice trailed off as he sunk to the ground. "I failed... Misty, I failed... I'm so sorry..." he said and watched as Harpie Lady delivered the final slash which ended the duel. Battle Warrior erupted into hundreds of tiny pieces, and the duel was now over.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 0  
  
"My life points, I lost!" Joey's eyes bucked open in shock.  
  
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"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."  
  
Brock's face began to fill with worry and despair.  
  
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Seto Kaiba slipped some brass knuckles on his hand, then crept toward the tint. He carefully peeped into the opening to see Ash sitting indian-style on the floor, with his back facing toward him. Seto smirked deviously.  
  
[Just the way I need you,] he thought to himself. He quietly crept toward Ash, being extremely careful not to make one sound. However, Ash still managed to hear his footsteps. He snapped his eyes open and whirled his head around to see Seto standing there. He started getting to his feet, but Seto didn't leave him a chance. He grabbed Ash by his hair and punched him straight in the face as hard as he could, which knocked the boy out. He fell onto the ground, and Seto smirked. He checked his dueling glove to find seven stars in it. He grinned, then started dragging Ash out of the tint...  
  
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December 21st, 2031. Christmas time was getting ever closer. In the small, quaint little town of Pallet Town, dozens of peoples were bustling about in an attempt to gather some last-minute presents. The temperature was in the mid 30's, so people had to dress warmly. Light snow was drifting to the ground from the sky, and it was getting heavier and heavier as time went by. Down at the town center, the malls were filled with people rushing to get last minute christmas presents. In the midst of this large crowd was a young, fourteen year old boy. He walked into a jewelry store, taking his hands out of his pockets as he entered the warm, cozy store. There wasn't too many people in the store; most people were down at the toy shops trying to find their children something satisfying for the Christmas season. The boy approached some stands with numerous pieces of jewelry situated on them. He picked up a pure gold necklace. It was a woman's necklace, and the boy decided that the necklace was perfect after looking at it for a while. He walked toward a cashier's counter. Placing the necklace on the counter, the boy waited patienly while the cashier rung up his price.  
  
"That'll be $513. 24," she told him. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled up the money. He gave it to the woman, who in turn, placed the necklace in a small box and gave it to him, along with a receipt and a bag to hold the box. The boy grinned and walked away. "Have a nice day," she said.  
  
"Same to you," he replied and left the store. There was a huge grin on his face. The necklace spent up all of his savings, but he knew it was well worth it.  
  
December 25th, 2031. Christmas day has now arrived. No one was hardly in the streets of Pallet Town now. The snow was falling heavily outside. Every hour dumped about four inches worth of snow onto the town. It was cold outside, which was another reason why people stayed inside, and went out only when they had to. At a small, white cottage, numerous cars were all parked outside the house. Lights were on inside to help light up the interior. Inside the house, there was a lot of commotion going on. Peaceful christmas music played over the radio, adding a tranquil, cozy feeling. In the master's bedroom, the same boy walked inside. A woman was standing in a mirror, combing her hair. When she heard the door open, she turned to see who it was, then turned her attention back to doing her hair.  
  
"Hey, Mom, can I talk to you for a second?" the boy spoke.  
  
The woman gently set down the brush on the vanity table, then walked over to her bed and sat down. She looked at the boy before speaking. "Whatever it is, Ash, make it quick. I have to get ready so I can go out and join the festivities," she said.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't take long," Ash replied. He pulled a small, brown box out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her. "Go ahead, Mom. Open it."  
  
Ash's mother Delia received the box from him and opened it up. A beautiful, 24K gold necklace laid inside, glimmering in the light. Delia gasped in surprise. Her face lit up with joy as she took the necklace out of the box. "Oh, Ash, I can't believe it! You bought this for me? Where'd you get this from? How could you afford such an expensive thing?!" she wondered.  
  
"I spent all my savings on it. When we were out the other day I saw you eyeing this necklace on the display window. I knew it would be the perfect gift for you." There was a slight pause before Ash continued. "Think of the necklace as a symbol of my love and concern for you, Mother. You've been so good to me over the years. You worked to bring income in to feed me, clothe me, shelter me. You bought me numerous toys whenever you could, and you loved me with all your heart. You made me a very happy child, Mother. You make me your number one priority all the time; this was the least I could do for you in return, and it's my way of expressing my gratitude for all your goodness to me," Ash spoke in a sincere tone of voice. Delia was touched as she brushed a small tear out of her eye. "Merry Christmas, Mother. I love you."  
  
"Oh, Ash!" she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly; Ash did the same. "I love you too," she told him. The two hugged each other for a while...  
  
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"Ash... oh Ash.... c'mon, wake up, already!" someone shouted in an impatient tone of voice. Ash's eyes slowly began to open. He moaned groggily as he stirred. He looked around, and he didn't recognize his surroundings. He was in a dark cave chained onto a wall. He blinked his eyes in an effort to help clear up his vision. His eyes panned around the room until he saw someone, then his eyes rested of him.  
  
"Well, well, you finally woke up!" he spoke, grinning in a devious manner. He chuckled a little bit. "Took you long enough."  
  
"Wh.. who are you?" Ash asked him. "And where am I? What did you do to me?" he snapped while pulling on the chains.  
  
"So many questions, so many questions, I wonder which one I should answer first," he returned. He approached Ash, their faces only being inches apart from each other. "Who am I? I am Seto Kaiba, the finest duelist ever to grace this world. You... are my next victim. See, I need some stars and I need them now. Most people around here are playing their cards safe and keeping away from me because they're afraid I'll wipe the floor with them- which they're right about- so I'm going to get them from you little boy. Plus, it was rather amusing to abduct you."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
Seto burst into laughter. "Oh, you're such a fool! A stupid fool! (more laughter) Since you don't seem to comprehend well, allow me to break it down for you. We are going to have a duel, whether you like it or not. You will be wagering all your stars, and I'll only be wagering three of mine," Seto told him.  
  
"Hey, if you're wagering three, I'm wagering three," Ash quipped, but Seto approached him again, staring at Ash with deadly eyes.  
  
"I don't think you are in any position to be making demands, little guy," Seto spoke in a dark tone of voice. "You will agree to the terms I set, or else I'll see to it that you never agree to anything else ever again."  
  
"You wouldn't dare," Ash challenged him. He wasn't afraid of anybody, especially some brown-haired sissy who called himself the world's finest duelist. Seto whipped a knife out of his pocket and held in to Ash's throat. The tip of the knife bumped against one of his neckbones.  
  
"You wanna bet your life on that?" he inquired, giving Ash an evil look. Seto poked through Ash's skin slightly, causing a small, tingling sensation to eminate from his neck.  
  
"Ow!" Ash yelped slightly on instinct. Seto started to drive the knife tip deeper into his neck, making the tingle gradually evolve into greater forms of pain. Ash winced as Seto smirked deviously.  
  
"Will you comply?" he asked him.  
  
Since Ash knew that Seto wasn't joking around, he decided to comply with his demands. "Allright, dick, I'll play," he replied.  
  
Setio pulled the knife out of his neck, grinning evily. "That's a good boy," he said, then punched Ash in the face a bit harshly. "And don't call me dick again, or else, it's lights out for you, little fucker." Ash glared at Seto angrily. He was not liking this one bit.  
  
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Joey and Misty walked rather briskly, trying to locate Yugi. They had been searching all over the island, but so far, they hadn't seen one sign of him. Misty was feeling a tad bit guilty. She shouldn't have never told Joey about her sisters; then he never would've lost his stars trying to win hers back from Mai. She wished she never let him challenge Mai. Now, he would be getting kicked out of the tournament because she didn't have the skills to defeat Mai in the first place. Joey was ashamed that he lost the duel in such a humiliating fashion, especially in front of his best friend! But, he knew that if they managed to find Yugi, then it was a chance that both of them could get back into the tournament. But where was he? They hadn't seen him anywhere. [Man, Yugi, you picked a fine time to dissappear,] Joey thought to himself.  
  
"Joey, we've looked all over the place and we haven't found Yugi yet. What are we going to do?" Misty asked him.  
  
"We can't give up. We gotta keep searching for him! Your sisters depend on this," Joey replied.  
  
"Joey... I'm sorry I dragged you into this," Misty apologized. "If I had the skills to defeat Mai in the first place, you wouldn't be in this predicament. I shouldn't have never let you try to duel Mai. I'm sorry."  
  
"Well, don't be. You didn't tell me to go duel Mai, I did it myself. It's my fault I lost against her, not yours," Joey said. "And don't even try to argue this with me, either. I'm not in the mood for a debate."  
  
"Okay, fine," Misty dropped it. "I won't be sorry then, if that'll make you feel better."  
  
"It does."  
  
"You know, maybe we shouldn't be trying to drag Yugi into this. I mean, it's gonna be an all-out match. If Mai beats him, he'll be cut from the tournament too. Maybe we should accept what's going to happen," Misty pondered. However, Joey ignored her. The two continued looking high and low for little Yugi. However, they didn't manage to find him. They were starting to grow tired of looking for him, but they didn't stop. That is, until a voice called out to them. A very familiar voice at that.  
  
"Joey, Misty? What's up?!" it spoke. Both Misty and Joey turned around to see who it was. Geoff was standing there with a large smile on his face. The two began to smile upon looking at him. "I didn't know you two were out here!" exclaimed Geoff.  
  
"Geoff? What's up, bro?!" Joey laughed and approached the man, with Misty. Misty threw her arms around Geoff, hugging him tightly.  
  
"Oh.. it's so great to see you again, Geoff!" she smiled while hugging. Geoff returned the hug fully, then they let go. He slapped hands with Joey, grinning and laughing.  
  
"Its been a while, hasn't it?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, it sure have," Joey responded. "So, are you a participant in this here tournament?"  
  
"Yep. I goin' for the gold," Geoff told them. "I was looking for a good duelist to duel; I never expected to bump into you guys!"  
  
"Well, we didn't expect to bump into you, either!" Misty added, still grinning.  
  
"So, you two are in the tournament, too?" Geoff inquired. Slowly, but surely, Joey and Misty's wide smiles began to fade into oblivion. Their faces turned from happy and joyous to scowls. "Whoa! Did I hit a sore spot or something? What did I miss?"  
  
"Nothing... it's nothing," Misty spoke. She tried to smile to convince Geoff that nothing was wrong. She elbowed Joey in his side softly to get his attention; he caught onto Misty's plan and began to smile, too. Geoff wasn't a fool, though. He knew something was going down. "See, nothing's wrong? We're fine, aren't Joey?" Misty rushed out.  
  
"Uh... right as rain!" Joey quickly added for good measure.  
  
"Something happened, didn't it?" Geoff noticed their gloves were empty, not one star in one hole. "You guys lost all your stars, didn't you?" He was a bit surprised.  
  
Misty sighed heavily. "Yep. We lost them to this skank-bitch who think she's all that and that the world should fall down and worship her.. ugh. Anyway, don't even go off into how we lost or why. You're not gonna find out."  
  
"What happened? Where is she? If I can find her, I can get back your stars."  
  
"No, no, don't! I don't want you to do that. Joey lost all his stars trying to reclaim mine; I don't want you to do the same. Look, just forget about it. We're shipping out of here tommorrow," she informed him.  
  
"Then I still have time to find her and duel her for the stars. What was the last direction she headed off to?" Geoff requested.  
  
"I told you, you're not gonna duel her! She might be too good for you! She beat Joey and me, and you know I'm pretty good when it comes down to Duel Monsters. What makes you think you'll have better luck?" she asked him.  
  
"Because I have some of the best cards in the game," Geoff answered. "You guys don't have to be out. If I can find her, I can win back your stars and put you back in the game. Why are you so intent on stopping me? You should be glad that I'm willing to risk the stars I have to get back yours, which I have a good chance of doing. So, what's the problem?"  
  
"What's the problem? The problem is that you could lose the duel, and then you'll be out too! Now, stop it. I'm not gonna let you risk losing your stars over us. We lost our matches, big deal. Don't go chasing that witch- bitch down in an effort to get them back. You could lose," Misty persisted. She was already guilty for costing Joey his stars. She didn't want Geoff losing his stars too. Then, she'd only have more guilt to cope with.  
  
Geoff wouldn't seem to accept this. "I don't understand why you don't want me to help you. Aren't we friends? That's what best friends do, they help each other in times of crisis!"  
  
"Well, this time, you're bending the rules. If you don't, I'll force you too. Like I said before, don't go rushing off like a fool into something you may not be able to handle. Mai is a smart duelist, and she has a very good strategy, too. Her deck is full of surprises. So, go find something else to do and stay clear of her. She's not to be messed with."  
  
"You can't stop me from doing what I want to do. If I wanna go fight an all- out match with this Mai, then I'll fight an all-out match with her. I've been craving a good challenge as of late," Geoff quipped and started walking off. Misty quickly ran forward and grabbed him, turning him back around.  
  
"Don't do that! You might lose! Listen, don't trifle with the bitch."  
  
"Why not? I know my abilites, and I know that they're good enough to beat her. Now, stop pissing about, tell me where she went so I can find, duel her, and win back the stars. You can't stop me," Geoff told them defiantly, then turned around and started walking away again.  
  
"Well, you can't stop me from stopping you," Misty returned while getting in front of him.  
  
"Get out of my way, Misty," Geoff said.  
  
"Not a chance," she replied. "If I have to punch you down in order to stop you, I will."  
  
"You'd really hit me?"  
  
"If it'll keep you from doing something stupid, yes, I will. You are not about to lose all your stars over me... and Joey," she rushed the 'and Joey' part out quickly.  
  
"Fine, I give up. Since you're so determined to get shipped off the island, I'll let you. But, you can't say I didn't try to help you."  
  
"Good, that's just what I wanna hear. Don't go trying to find her; just leave the tramp alone. I don't want you to lose your stars," Misty told him. Geoff sighed and looked toward the ground. "You promise that you won't run off and try to duel her?" Misty inquired. Geoff still looked down at the ground, and he didn't respond to Misty's question. "Will you promise me, Geoff, please?"  
  
"All right, I promise," Geoff replied while looking up at her. "I won't go find her, if that's what you want."  
  
"Good," Misty sighed. "That makes me feel a little better."  
  
"Well, if you guys don't mind, I'm gonna try to find a good, challenging duelist," Geoff said to them. "And it's not gonna be Mai, either," he assured them. "Catch ya' later," he walked off. Misty and Joey watched him walk off, then Joey turned to face Misty.  
  
"Misty, why wouldn't you let Geoff help us? He could pull it off. Remeber how excellent a duelist Geoff used to be in the past? He's probably better now he was then."  
  
"I know, but I still don't want him to duel her. It's possible that he could lose."  
  
[All right, Mai, come out, come out wherever you are,] Geoff thought to himself as he walked along. Although Misty wanted him to stay clear from Mai, he couldn't sit back and watch his two best friends get shipped off the island if there was a chance he could stop it from happening. Whoever this Mai was, Geoff was confident that he could handle her. He was a very good duelist, and he possessed some the best cards ever made for the game. The duel would probably be a cinch.  
  
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Jasmine walked into her tint, sighing heavily. She was progressing rather well in the tournament, but she knew she didn't have much time. There was no telling what Pegasus would do to get Morty's Millenium Key, and she knew it would only be a matter of time before Pegasus snapped. Jasmine was worried that she wouldn't be able to reach him in time. Was he even alive right now? What if he was dead already? Jasmine had no way of knowing what was going on, but she had to have faith that Morty was still alive. She had to believe that she could pull this off. Jasmine sat down and pulled multiple decks out of her small purse. She started looking through them, trying to pick all the best cards out of each deck, then combine them all into one, super powerful deck. With her boyfriend's life at risk, she had to be at her best if she was going to make it through this mini- competition. "Just keep holding out, honey. I won't let you down, I promise," Jasmine muttered to herself. Pegasus was going to pay for this.  
  
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Meilin wandered about the island at a casual pace, searching for Li. She hadn't seen him all day. Where did he wander off to? She had checked all of the most congested dueling areas, but she didn't see one sign of him. Where was he? While walking along, Meilin started hearing some faint voices. She wasn't sure who the voices belonged too, but she could make out one voice belonging to a girl, and the other belonged to a boy. The boy's voice sounded pretty familiar to her, though. Curiosity got the better of her, and Meilin started heading toward the source of the voices. As she got closer, she could make out what the voices were saying.  
  
"Hey, Li, thanks a lot.. for taking the time to help me out. I really appreciate it," the girl spoke. Meilin didn't know what was going on, but she started running toward the voices, intent on finding out what was going down.  
  
"It's allright, Sakura. I'm glad to be of help," Li chimed. "It makes me feel a bit useful."  
  
Sakura chuckled. "So, we'll meet tomorrow, same time, same place?"  
  
"Yeah," replied Li. He smiled while watching Sakura walk off. "Hey, take care!" he yelled after her.  
  
"Same to you!" she answered and walked off elegantly. Li smiled, then turned around and started walking away. However, someone called his name, making him stop. Li turned around to see Meilin walking toward him with a smirk on her face. Li's face brightened up. "Hey, Meilin."  
  
"What's up? Where'd Sakura go?" she asked. Li's face slowly took a surprised look as he froze. "Well?"  
  
"What do you mean, where'd Sakura go? Who is Sakura?" he slowly asked her.  
  
"Don't play foolish with me, Li. I heard you talking to some girl named Sakura. 'Hey, thanks for helping me'. Does that ring a bell?" Meilin said while approaching Li.  
  
"Y... you heard?" Li asked her in a shaky tone of voice. An angry Meilin was never, ever, EVER pretty.  
  
"Yes, I heard," Meilin confirmed. "I spent a whole lot of my day trying to find you so I could talk to you and spend time with you, and when I do find you, I see you talking with another girl! Off in a secluded spot at that! This type of behavior can make a girl wonder things, Li."  
  
"Look, I was just teaching her how to play the game like a pro and I helped her improve her deck, that's all. We didn't do anything, if that's what you think," Li assured her. "I'm your boy, you're my girl, and I promise you, nothing's going to change that, okay? Sakura's just a friend. The only reason why we were off in a more secluded area is because we didn't want any duelists challenging us to matches. Other than that, I would've helped her in a more open spot," he explained.  
  
Since Meilin and Li had been seeing each other for a few years, Meilin decided to cut Li some slack. She had to trust that he didn't do anything, anyway. If he really didn't do anything and she accused him to doing something, that could really hurt Li's feelings, and she didn't want that. Plus, it would bring up trust issues, and the relationship would take a deep plunge for the worst. "Okay, Li. That's all I wanted to know."  
  
"So you're not mad?"  
  
"I'm not mad, Li," Meilin told him, kissing his cheek. Both of them grinned playfully. "Now, c'mon, let's go back to our campsite and get something to eat, all right?"  
  
"You bet," Li responded, and together the two walked back toward their camp, talking and laughing along the way.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Ash had been unchained from the wall now, but for security reasons, Seto left his legs chained up, to insure that Ash could not get away from him. Both duelists prepared their dueling decks. Ash transported his sunset orange dueling device out of his S.C.T and strapped it onto his arm. Seto did the same with his ocean blue system. After both had prepared their dueling systems, they inserted their decks into the deck keeper, then looked up at each other. Ash glared at Seto angrily. He was going to kick the shit out of this punk-ass for abducting him and forcing him to do something he didn't want to do. Just the fact Seto actually managed to ambush him made Ash want to break his neck. He knew he couldn't do that, but he could definitely make Seto pay for messing with him. Seto laid out three of his stars into the wager bin, then stared at Ash. Ash reluctantly threw down all of his stars.  
  
***Seto's/Ash's Life Points- 2000***  
  
"Well, now it begins," Seto spoke while staring at Ash.  
  
"I'm gonna beat your ass into a submission, sissy-dick. You're gonna regret ever fucking with me," Ash threated in a dark tone of voice. Seto glared at him, obviously getting pissed.  
  
"Sissy-dick? How dare you!" he yelled. "You're gonna suffer grave consequences for calling me that, little punk-ass."  
  
"Bring it on!" Ash shouted defiantly. He was ready for anything Seto could spit out.  
  
"As you wish!" Seto returned and drew six cards, forming his hand. He looked through all the cards, decided on what his opening move should be. [That little twip couldn't be too much of a challenge. He isn't even a well- known duelist. I, the World Champion, shouldn't have any problem beating the prick,] Seto thought while picking a card. "To start off, I play this card, Ryu-Kishin Powered, in attack mode!" Seto slammed down the card. Ryu- Kishin Powered's holocard appeared, then the monster jumped out of the card, snarling.  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1200  
  
"You're so dumb.. you lay out that weak monster with nothing to protect it or back it up? And they call you the World Champion..." Ash snickered while drawing his six cards, looking them over afterwards. He chose one and slapped it onto the card reader. "I call out the Curse of Dragon, in attack mode!" Ash shouted. The monster materialized onto the field, screeching loudly.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1500  
  
"A foolish move like that cost you the round, Seto. Curse of Dragon, attack Ryu-Kishin Powered now!" Ash yelled. The monster spit out a large fire beam attack that incinerated Ryu-Kishin powered on contact. An explosion erupted, and when the smoke cleared out, Seto's monster was no more.  
  
Seto's Life Points- 1600  
  
"The World Champion, eh? Even a baby knows not to put such a weak monster like Ryu-Kishin Powered in attack mode, completely defenseless. You're not worthy of that title, Seto," Ash said.  
  
"Oh, yeah? Maybe I had a reason to put that monster there. Reasons you cannot comprehend, punk," Seto shot back. He pulled another card out of his hand and smirked. "I'm called the World Champion for a reason, and now you'll see. I play the monster, Swordstalker, in attack mode!" he yelled while slapping the card onto the panel, bringing the monster into battle. "And in case you don't know, Swordstalker has a special ability in which it can gather the life force of a fallen enemy, raising it's attack power by 20%."  
  
"So that's why you played Ryu-Kishin Powered: to use it's attack force to strengthen your Swordstalker!" Ash deduced.  
  
"I'm surprised you put it together; Very good for an airhead," Seto commented.  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 1600  
  
"Swordstalker, you know what to do! Destroy Curse of Dragon!" Seto snapped. Swordstalker charged toward Curse of Dragon fearlessly; it jumped into the air and slashed through Curse of Dragon with its sword, causing the monster to shatter violently.  
  
Ash's Life Points- 1600  
  
"The score is tied," Seto said.  
  
"Not for long," Ash quipped and drew a card from his deck. He got a pretty interesting choice. With this card, he could take down the Swordstalker, even though all the monsters in his hand didn't have that much attack strength. "Just the card I need. Your Swordstalker won't be stalking for long. I lay one card face-down, then I play the Giant Soldier of Stone, in defense mode!" Ash threw both his cards onto the card reader, bringing them to life.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 2000  
  
"Hmm... that Giant Soldier of Stone's defensive power is no match for my Swordstalker. I could go ahead and attack it, but there's a face-down card on your field, and I have no way of knowing what it is. If I attack now, I could be walking right into a trap," Seto mused. He pulled a card from his deck, then layed it onto the field. "I'll throw this card face-down, and then, I'll attack your Giant Soldier of Stone! Swordstalker, Vengeance Strike!" he snapped. The monster charged for the stone soldier.  
  
"Not so fast, dick! I flip over my face-down card, Castle Walls!" Seto couldn't help letting out a gasp. "This card raises my stone soldier's defensive power by 500, making it strong enough to withstand your Swordstalker's attack!"  
  
DEF: 2500  
  
The Swordstalker's blade sliced down the Giant Soldier of Stone, but it had no effect on the monster. Instead, Seto lost 100 life points, bringing his total down to 1500. Ash smirked in satisfaction. "Worked like a charm. And now, your Swordstalker is vulnerable to an attack, so.." his voice trailed off while he drew a card. He grinned at what he got, then slapped it onto the field. "..I'll play the Summoned Skull, in attack mode!" The monster jumped out of the holocard, growling while sparking electricity.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200  
  
"Last but not least, I'll throw this card face-down. Summoned Skull, destroy Seto's monster with Lightning Strike!" Ash commanded; a lightning discharge struck the monster, then the demon powered an electrical charge and shot it at Swordstalker. But Seto was prepared.  
  
"I defend my monster with this: Reinforcements!" he shouted while flipping up the face-down card. "This card will give my Swordstalker 500 extra attack points, making it strong enough to endure your attack!"  
  
ATK: 2900  
  
Summoned Skull's electricity surged all over Swordstalker, but the monster successfully withstood the attack.  
  
Ash's Life Points- 1200  
  
"Now, Swordstalker, attack Summoned Skull!" Seto snapped. The monster charged at Summoned Skull, raising its blade to strike. When nearing ever closer, Ash flipped up his face-down card that Seto accidentally forgot about.  
  
"I defend with the Spellbinding Circle!" he announced. Seto gasped as a golden star and a blue force field surrounded his monster, stopping it in its tracks.  
  
ATK: 1700 (due to the fact that Reinforcements wore off)  
  
"Now I've gotcha, punk! Summoned Skull, destroy Swordstalker!" Ash yelled. The monster wasted no time and sent a powerful discharge of lightning into the Swordstalker's chest. The monster exploded into pieces afterwards, and lightning sparked throughout the pieces as they faded away.  
  
Seto's Life Points- 700  
  
"Ha! You're down to 700, Seto, and I've gotta 500 point lead over you. Thought this would be peaches n' cream, hunh, punk? You fucked with the wrong man, prick," Ash told him.  
  
"This isn't over, yet, you pompus punk-ass! This duel has just started!" Seto returned while glaring evily at Ash. Ash gave Seto a nasty glare of his own.  
  
"Bring it on!" Both guys stared at each other, as if they wanted to kill each other.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
"So, Tristan, if you had the chance, would you do it? Would you actually ask Destiny on a date?" spoke Brock.  
  
"Of course I would," replied Tristan. He and Brock were inside the tint enjoying the fruits Tristan had picked a few hours ago. Tristan bit into the sweet, delicious tangerine, savoring the taste. He had never tasted a tangerine that good in all his fifteen years. Brock was busy nawing away on the oranges Tristan had collected.  
  
"Would you?" Tristan asked Brock.  
  
"Ah.. I don't know," he responded.  
  
"Why not? Destiny's like, the cutest girl at the school, why wouldn't you go out with her if you had a chance?"  
  
"It's just.. well... I don't really like her personality, if you get what I'm saying. She seems a bit.. on the airheaded side if you ask me. Now, don't bite my head off, I'm just expressing my opinion."  
  
"And a bad one it is," Tristan added while biting into the tangerine again.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with my opinion," Brock shot back. "I guess that's just the vibe I get off of her. Hmm.. maybe its because I've never really talked to her, you know, face-to-face, one-on-one, direct conversation kind of talk. I usually just speak to her on occasion."  
  
"Maybe you should try talking to her. You might... actually, just forget I say that. If there's fewer men looking at Destiny, that means I have a better chance at dating her myself, so just purge your memory of anything I said," Tristan told him, and Brock chuckled while shaking his head.  
  
"You know, I really got my sights on Jerrica. I mean, she is absolutely sensational! The way she looks, the way her facial expression appears, the way her blonde hair bounces around, the way it naturally flows down her body, everything! Jerrica is too cute," Brock said.  
  
"Yeah, she may be cute, but she's not as cute as Destiny," Tristan stated.  
  
"She's cuter than Destiny to me..." Brock's voice trailed off as sudden pain began eminating from his stomach. He clutched his gut while squinching his face in pain.  
  
"Brock? Wh.. what's wrong with you?" Tristan inquired.  
  
Brock couldn't respond. The pain was intensifying with every passing seconds. A sudden surge of pain jolted in his head. It felt like a migraine's pain multiplied by 100. He couldn't help screaming out in agony. "AHH!!" he yelled. His body began to convulse, twitch, and spasm, and intense pain began to eminate from all areas of his body.  
  
"Brock? What's happening?!" Tristan looked on in horror. He had no idea what to do. Brock could feel blackness settling in around him. The pain was too much to bear. A wave of dizziness hit Brock, and he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. His body bumped the ground with an audible thud.  
  
"Brock!" Tristan scurried over to his best friend's side. Brock was still spasming rather badly, then he suddenly stopped. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness," Tristan spat out swiftly. He began to sweat from nervousness. He scrambled to think of what to do. He reached out and checked Brock's pulse. It was faint, but it wasn't completely gone. Tristan got to his feet, then reached down and grabbed Brock. He pulled Brock up and mounted the boy's body onto his back, then darted out of the tint, heading toward the nearest medical center.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Geoff walked through the meadows rather aimlessly. He knew who he was looking for, but he had no idea of what she looked like. How would he ever find her and win back the stars if he didn't know what to find? A few seconds passed by before an idea struck him. He continued down to the shores of Emerald Island, where the cruise ship let them off. He approached a guy in a black suit.  
  
"Um, excuse me," he began, "is there a tournament roster sheet with all of the current tournament participants listed?"  
  
"Yes, there is," the guy replied unnervingly.  
  
"Well, is it possible for you to download it into my S.C.T as a readible file?" Geoff asked.  
  
"Of course. Hold on a minute." The man pulled his computer device out of his pocket and slipped it around his wrist. He accessed it, and scanned through the numerous files until he found what he was looking for, the tournament roster sheet. He accessed that file, then looked up at Geoff.  
  
"Uh, you'll have to tell me what your S.C.T serial number is, sir." Geoff glanced down at the system.  
  
"It's 678132094."  
  
"Thank you." The man punched the small keys and gave a command to send the roster sheet to the S.C.T terminal under the serial number. The screen said sending for about 1/2 a second before it was complete. Geoff's S.C.T beeped to indicate that the file was on his system. He looked at the man and smiled.  
  
"Thanks a lot, I appreciate it," he told him.  
  
"You're welcome. Have a nice day," the man said.  
  
"You too," Geoff spoke while walking away. He accessed his device and scrolled down to the file. He opened the file and began to read through it. There was quite a few names listed on the sheet, but Geoff carefully searched through the file, looking for Mai Valentine. He scrolled down to 'M's, and shortly after, he found Mai's name. He opened up a sub-file containing a profile on the woman. Her picture appeared beside her general information, which included her name, age, height, weight, etc.  
  
"Bingo! Now all I gotta do is find you," he spoke softly. He closed the file and walked in a brisk face, anxious to find the woman. It would take a long time, but he was determined to locate her, then win back Joey and Misty's stars. Another idea suddenly struck Geoff. He accessed his S.C.T and transported a portable computer device out of it. He was going to try hacking into Pegasus's main computer mainframe, then attempt to track down Mai's stars to pinpoint her location. This was a safety feature Pegasus encoded into the stars, so if a duelist stole another's stars, the victim could simply ask local security to track down the stars, which will lead them right to the duelist who stole them. If he could manage to hack into this system, he could use it to track down Mai's stars, which in turn, would pinpoint the exact location of Mai herself. Geoff was a skilled hacker, so he figured that this couldn't be too much of a challenge. He turned it on, then began to work away at his objective.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Seto and Ash's duel raged on. Seto was down to 700 LP, while Ash stood at 1200. He was currently winning the duel, much to Seto's surprise, and disgust. There was no way in hell he would let some unknown punk overpower him, the World Champion. It was his turn at the moment, so he drew a card from his deck, looking at it afterwards to see what he got. It wasn't nearly strong enough to take down Ash's Summoned Skull. "I'll play one card, in defense mode," Seto said and placed the card onto the console, bringing the face-down holocard onto the field. Ash smirked slightly.  
  
"Running already? I knew you were a sissy-dick all along," he jeered, making Seto snarl and frown in anger. "Summoned Skull, attack Seto's face- down card. Lightning Strike!" Ash shouted. Summoned Skull was struck with a powerful bolt of lightning, then it channeled the electricity into its hands and shot it out in numerous bolts. It struck the face-down card and blew into pieces; the ghost of the Hitosume Giant appear and faded away with the pieces. Seto pulled another card up from the deck, wondering what it would be.  
  
"Hmm... this is just perfect. The card I need to take down your Summoned Skull. First, I play two monsters, Mystic Clown, and Ryu-Kishin, both in attack mode!" Seto slapped down the two cards and brought them to life side by side.  
  
(Mystic Clown) ATK: 1500 DEF: 1000 (Ryu-Kishin) ATK: 1000 DEF: 500  
  
Ash snickered. "That's your master plan?"  
  
"No, I have yet to finish, Mr. Know-it-all," Seto rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'll throw yet another monster onto the field, Judgeman!" (The monster loaded)  
  
ATK: 2200 DEF: 1500  
  
"Last but not least, I'll play this trap card, Two-Pronged Attack!" he announced while throwing the card onto the console. Ash let out a gasp. "Two-Pronged Attack destroys two of my monsters, but in exchange, it'll take out one of your monsters, and the only monster you have on the field is Summoned Skull!"  
  
"No!" Ash yelled.  
  
"Take my Ryu-Kishin and Mystic Clown!" Seto yelled, then laughed as his trap card activated. Two, long, stretchable hands sprouted out of the ground and wrapped around his monsters, then sqeezed them, ultimately crushing them into pieces. Their life force energy flowed into the two hands. "Now, attack Summoned Skull!" Seto snapped. The two hands fired a yellow beam made of pure life force. It hit Summoned Skull in the chest, making it groan in pain before exploding into pieces quickly.  
  
"Shit!" Ash cursed. "That wrecks my plan!"  
  
Seto laughed in glee. "My "sissy-dickish" ways paid off in the long run, didn't they, punk? Go ahead and make your move."  
  
"That's just what I'll do," Ash retorted, then added, "And don't ever tell me what to do again, or I'll come over there and break your fucking neck!"  
  
"You can't go anywhere, punk-ass bitch, or have you forgotten that you're stuck to the cave wall?" Seto reminded him. Ash looked down and saw that chains were still wrapped around his ankles, preventing him from going anywhere. "That leaves me free to come over there and kick the shit out of you, so don't push me!"  
  
Ash glared at Seto and drew a card angrily. He hated this slight form of dominion Seto had over him as of now. He looked at the card, and it turned out to be Harpie's Brother. "Damn! I don't need this right now," he muttered to himself. He went on ahead and played it anyway, because if he didn't, Seto's Judgeman would take him out with one blow. Harpie's Brother appeared on the field in defense mode.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 600 (As far as I know, there's only been one episode in the anime which showed the Judgeman card, and that's the series premiere of Yu- gi-oh! anime. So, forgive me if the attack name or description doesn't match the episode. They never show this ep on KidsWB anymore. When I see it again, I will change it around, for now, this is just a temporary made-up animation to move the story along.)  
  
Seto bursted into laughter. "You picked a card with lousy defensive powers. Judgeman, attack Harpie's Brother now! Supreme Gavel Strike!" he commanded. The monster ran toward's Harpie's Brother, it's gavel-like club raised in the air. It reared back and swung the club into Harpie's Brother's face, taking it's head off. The monster shattered into pieces violently, but Ash didn't lose any life points. Seto laughed again as Ash drew a card from his deck.  
  
[Still nothing good! I'm gonna need some real firepower if I want to defeat Seto, not crap! Why did I even bother putting these cards in my deck?] Ash quipped to himself as he played it. "Another Giant Soldier of Stone, in defense mode!" The monster appeared on the field huddled together.  
  
ATK: 1300 DEF: 2000  
  
"Pretty impressive defensive strength, I'll admit, but it's still nothing my Judgeman can't handle. Before I attack though, I have something else to do," Seto pulled a card up from his deck and got the Blue Eyes White Dragon. [Perfect! Now all I need to do is hold out for the other two, then I'm set! I've already the cards in my hand needed to execute my strategy!] He added the monster to his hand, then shouted to Judgeman, "Attack that stone soldier!" Of course, the monster could not handle the Judgeman's strength and exploded into pieces. Ash frowned and snarled.  
  
"C'mon, Ash, I thought a man like you had more fight in him!" teased Seto. Ash ignored his comment and drew a card from his deck. He hoped he got a good one as he looked to see what it was. In his hand he held the Red Eyes Black Dragon.  
  
"All right! Your Judgeman is toast, Kaiba! I call on the Red Eyes Black Dragon, in attack mode!" Ash yelled out, much to Seto's surprise. The holocard appeared, then a large black ball appeared which dissipated as the card rose out of the ground screeching.  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 2000  
  
"Red Eyes Black Dragon, attack Judgeman! Inferno Fire Blast!!" Ash shouted. The monster reared back, then fired a huge ball of fire into Judgeman, which caused a massive explosion to erupt on Seto's side of the field. He struggled to keep his balance as wind blew against him, and thick smoke covered his field. When it faded, there wasn't a trace of Judgeman left. Ash smirked in satisfaction.  
  
Seto's Life Points- 500 "You're getting closer and closer to defeat, Seto. You may be the World Champion, but I'm a better duelist than you'll ever be. Admit it, I've had you on the ropes since the match began."  
  
"You lie! You haven't been pounding on me throughout the whole duel!"  
  
"Our current life points tell all, Seto," Ash responded.  
  
***Ash's Life Points- 1200/Seto's Life Points- 500***  
  
"See the difference? You're gonna have to kick your game up a few notches before you can even begin to give me a challenge. This duel has been easy so far," Ash told him.  
  
"You may just be getting your wish, and that's sooner than you think," Seto murmered to himself.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Geoff pecked on the keys of his portable computer rather swiftly. He was actually getting into the computer mainframe, and it was far easier than he expected it to be. The main reason why it was it because he was using his powers to manipulate and screw up the security protocals, giving him access much faster than normal. He would've had to screw up the computer on his own without the powers, and that would've taken at least two days or so. Within a few moments, Geoff had achieved his goal.  
  
"Success!" he exclaimed to himself. "Now that the security protocals are all fucked up, I can find Mai." Geoff carefully pinpointed the exact location of Mai's stars, then smirked. "You're not that far away at all. A few minutes of walking north and I should run right into you. I'm good," he started walking toward her campsite. Several minutes passed as Geoff continued walking, following the directions the digital map provided him.  
  
"Ok, I should almost be where she is." Soon Geoff came across a clearing where he found Mai's camp. There was a small lake nearby that she could swim in. Mai was sitting outside, typing away on a handheld computer. Her back was turned to Geoff, so she doesn't see him. She was listening to music via headphones, so she couldn't really hear Geoff approaching her.  
  
"Hey, Are you Mai Valentine?" Geoff asked. However, the music was blaring on her ears so loudly, that she didn't hear him. She continued to rock her head to the beat of the song. Geoff noticed that calling her wasn't getting her attention, so he picked a small rock off the ground and flung it at her like a ninja star. It flew right near her head and landed on the ground, causing her to jump in surprise. Mai whirled around to see Geoff standing there; She eyed him curiously.  
  
"Mai Valentine I presume?" he spoke.  
  
"Who are you supposed to be?" she asked.  
  
"The name's Geoff Okasinski. I'm here to challenge you to a duel and win back my old friends cards and star chips." he told her boldly.  
  
Mai rose out of her chair while pulling the headphones off. She continued to stare at Geoff. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"You have the stars and three cards of a friend of mine, Joey Wheeler; and you have another friends Stars, Misty Chase. In case you don't know, I'm here to win them back."  
  
Mai burst into laughter. "You mean you're friends of..." her voice trailed off as she laughed some more. Geoff glared at her, then he pulled out a Duel Monsters card and threw it at her. It hit the tree 30 feet behind her and sliced through the trunk of it before the card mysteriously flew back to him, like a ninja star. Mai was a bit spooked as she stopped laughing and looked at Geoff. She crossed her arms and asked, "Listen, what do you want?"  
  
"Simple, the cards of Joey's and Misty's Star Chips, of course I can't take them from you with out dueling for them, so prepare to duel!"  
  
"What makes you think I have to waste my time doing this? I have more than enough stars to register for the main competition, so explain to me why I should dabble in a duel with you."  
  
"Oh I believe you would want this rare card Miss Valentine." Geoff then reached into his pocket and pulled a card out of it. He held it up into the air, revealing it to be the Blue Eyes White Dragon Card from his deck.  
  
Mai looked at the card, a bit surprised. She had been searching for that card quite a while now, but to no avail. If she could defeat Geoff in a duel, it would be all hers. Of course, she still had to consider the risk in doing so. Was it worth it? "Hmm... that's nice, Geoff, but you're asking me to risk far too much for one card. Perhaps you need to offer a bit more if you really want me to duel you that badly," she spoke.  
  
Geoff smirked. "I know what kind of woman you are, so I'll throw in this Diamond that I found in an old Diamond mine I know of." He proceeded to pull out a diamond the size of a softball and held it up.  
  
"Oh!" Mai gasped. She eyed the diamond, her face filled with joy. [The diamond is beautiful! But, it's even more beautiful because... just imagine how much money I could make off the diamond!] She stared into Geoff's eyes. "Allright, big guy, you've got a deal. I'll duel you, and if I win, you'll give me all your stars, the softball diamond, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, and.... hmm... a nice round of hot sex afterwards! I've heard that big, muscular men provides the best," she said in a seductive tone of voice. "And I know you just want to ravage this soft, gentle, gorgeous body, don't you?"  
  
"Well, I don't mind the fourth add on to the deal, so yes. But here.. just to prove that this is a real diamond," Geoff tossed the diamond over to her. Mai quickly reached out and caught it before it fell.  
  
"It's genuine," she acknowledged. "And, be more careful with my prize," she added.  
  
Geoff opened a small bag he carried with him to reveal over 2 dozen more diamonds. "Not to worry, I took more then one Diamond from that mine."  
  
Mai smirked. "Well, if I win, let me have all of them then," she demanded. "If you don't, I won't duel you, and you'll never get back your friends' stars and cards," she spoke in a devious tone of voice.  
  
"Fine, but when I win, you will give me all of Joey's stars and his three cards; the same amount of stars you took from Misty you will also give to me, if I win. One more thing: you were right about before, you are one sexy woman and I would love to get you in bed," he said while grinning.  
  
"Deal. Now, let's duel," she stated. She strapped the purple dueling device onto her arm, then pulled her deck out of her pocket and placed it into the deck keeper. She looked up at Geoff, who was strapping on his Midnight Black Duel Disk on his arm. He placed my deck in the deck keeper after shuffling it.  
  
"Lets Duel!"  
  
***Mai's/Geoff's Life Points- 2000***  
  
Geoff drew his first five cards. Mai also drew five cards from her deck, then said, "If you're a real gentleman, you'll allow me to go first, since I'm a lady, right?"  
  
"Of course, I am quite the gentleman. You will find out later if you win, but you might still find out if you lose." He looked at his hand to see what he had drawn. The cards were: Pot of Greed, Ultimate Offering, Goblin Attack Force, Infinite Cards and Sangan.  
  
Mai pulled up two cards from her hand. "Thank you. For my first move, I'll play one card face-down, then I'll play one monster face-up, but in defense mode," she said and placed down the cards. A face-down holocard appeared, then Harpie Lady appeared afterwards in a defensive stance. "Your turn."  
  
"First I play this Magic card called Pot of Greed," Geoff said and placed the card onto the console on his arm. The pot appeared on the field, then he drew two new cards, one being the Head of Exodia and the other being Mirror Force "Next I place this monster in Defense mode and I place two more cards face down and I end my turn."  
  
Mai wondered what Geoff was planning. So far, he was playing the way she wanted him too. She pulled a card up from her deck and looked at it. "Hmm... I'll throw this it out for later, then I'll end my turn."  
  
Geoff drew a card, then placed it down. "I play Dian Keto The Cure master, upping my life points from 2000 to 3000 now."  
  
Geoff's Life Points- 3000  
  
"Also I'll play Goblin Attack Force in Attack mode, but I won't attack. Instead, I'll end my turn." The Goblin Attack Force loaded onto the field.  
  
ATK: 2300 DEF: 0 (correct, right?)  
  
Mai looked suspiciously at the field, then drew a card from her deck. "I'll throw one card face-down, then I'll flip up my face-down card to reveal Fissure!" she shouted. A seismic wave traveled towards Geoff's Goblin Attack Force and destroyed it.  
  
"Hmm....seems you might have a chance to take the lead, but that has yet to be seen Mai," Geoff quipped.  
  
"We'll never see until you decide to make a move," Mai retorted.  
  
"Very well Mai," Geoff said and reached down to draw a card. After pulling it up, he looked at it, then placed it onto the console. "I play this monster face up, in defense mode, and I switch my face down monster to face up defense also." Both monsters loaded, revealing Sangan and Spirit of the Harp in a defensive stance. "And I place one more card face down and end my turn."  
  
"Getting sneaky, eh?" Mai quipped as she drew a card. She added it to her hand. "I switch my Harpie Lady to attack mode!" she yelled while doing so. Harpie Lady screeched as she got into her attack stance. Mai pulled the card out of her hand and played it. It was Cyber Shield, which strengthened Mai's Harpie Lady's attack power up to 1800. "I end my turn."  
  
Geoff drew a new card from his deck. "Well Mai, lets see your Harpy Lady take on her Bro, I play Harpie's Brother, in attack mode and I end my turn," he said while slapping down the card, bringing it onto the field. Mai pulled a card from her hand and smirked.  
  
"My Harpie Lady will be the victor, because I play, Rose Whip, which increases my Harpie Lady's attack strength by 300! And since it already had Cyber Shield added to it, it's attack strength is 2100! Harpie Lady, attack Harpie's Brother! Whiplash Attack!" she commanded. Her monster reared back and thrusted her rose whip at Harpie's Brother.  
  
"Not if I can help it, Active Trap card MIRROR FORCE!" The face down trap card Mirror force flips up and sends Harpie Lady attack back at her.  
  
"Nice, but I'm defending my monster with Negate Attack!" Mai yelled while activating her last face-down card. A warp appeared and successfully stopped Harpie Lady's attack from destroying itself. "Back where we started, and it's your turn."  
  
"Very well Mai, now I draw..." (drew another card) "...Ah, this card will now help me get to your life points, but first I place Harpie's Brother in Defense mode, now I play the card I just drew." Geoff put the magic card in it's slot. "I play Final Flame, it attacks your life points directly and gives you 600 damage points."  
  
"Ahh!" Mai was shocked as flames spit out of the card and struck her, knocking her down. Her life points fell down to 1400. She got back onto her feet and looked at Geoff. "I'm impressed." Drawing a card, she placed it face-down, then attacked Harpie's Brother. "Whiplash Attack!" she shouted. Her monster charged for Geoff's monster, raising its rose whip for an attack.  
  
"Oh well, I guess even siblings have to fight each other," Geoff mused as Harpie Lady's Rose Whip smacked Harpie's Borther right in the chest, causing it to shatter violently. Aftewards he drew a new card. "Well now, I guess this dragon will help me now, well Mai say goodbye to Harpy Lady, for I now play Tri-Horn Dragon in attack mode!" The card loaded and Tri-Horn Dragon appeared on the field, growling ferociously.  
  
ATK:2850 and DEF:2350  
  
Mai's eyes widened in shock. "Tri-Horn Dragon attack her Harpy Lady with Tri-Slash!'" With that the Dragon attacks Harpy Lady, but before it could strike, a crystalized wall suddenly sprung out of the ground, protecting Harpie Lady. Geoff's monster slashed the wall three times, but it received an equal attack from its reflection.  
  
"Ha, ha, ha, it's a good thing I played that card. This is my favorite trap card called, Mirror Wall, Geoff, and it drains any monster attack and defense power in half when they try to attack, and it protects all my monsters from harm," she told him. Geoff simply frowned at this.  
  
ATK: 1425 DEF: 1175  
  
"Now, your monster is doomed! Harpie Lady, attack Tri-Horn Dragon! Whiplash Attack!" Mai shouted. The Mirror Wall lowered back into the ground, allowing Harpie Lady passage. It twirled its rope around in a elegant fashion before lashing out with it. Striking Tri-Horn Dragon right in the chest, the monster screamed before erupted into lots of pieces.  
  
Geoff-s Life Points- 2325  
  
"Ha! I sacked one of your toughest monster, Geoff, what do you have to say about that?"  
  
"It's not close to being over yet, Mai. Tri-Horn Dragon isn't the most toughest monster I have. Besides, I still have a 900 plus lead over you, so you've still got a long way to go before you can even imagine winning this match," he told her., then drew a card afterwards.  
  
"Next I'll activate my face-down magic card, Infinite Cards," (activates Infinite Cards) "And finally I play two monsters, both face-down in Defense mode," he said and carried out his command. Two face-down holocards appeared in the midnight black slots in front of him. "Make your move."  
  
"With pleasure," Mai smirked while reaching down to draw a card. She picked it up, then her smirk formed into a gleeful smile. Geoff frowned at this, but he figured that she must've gotten a good card. But, what was it? Could it possibly be a card that could finish him off and cost him everything? Misty told him that her deck was full of surprises. What would happen?  
  
**|To Be Continued...|**  
  
***|Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500|*** Okay, I know I took a very long time getting this up here, but things have been so hectic lately. Aside from the fact that the computer was erroring and such, I've been busy with school, a part-time job, and other things. I will try to get Episode 15 up as soon as possible. So, to finish up my closing notes, I hope you liked this episode. Sorry for the inconvience, but I couldn't help it. Goodbye, for now. 


	15. Episode 15, 'Tribulations, Part 2'

I'm back with an all-new episode! Sorry about the small typos I accidentally left in the last episode. I forgot to pre-read through the episode before uploading (silly me). I am really sorry about the extremely long wait, but it couldn't be helped. I work a part-time job, I stay with my grandmother a lot because she's ill, I'm studying for tests, etc. Plus I had a bit of difficulty writing the episode. This episode's rating will be upped to "R" for some rather descriptive sex scenes. If you don't like to read this type of stuff, I suggest you skip it. They're not really long, though. And I hope they're not too descriptive, either, because the sight may purge the episode... I hope not. Also, in other news, I'm about to start working on Duelists of the Future's introduction movie! You know, that little intro at the beginning of a show that shows the characters with a catchy beat going on in the background. After I finish it, I'll try to find a website to upload it onto, then I'll provide the adress to the video in every episode. I hope that I can actually do this. I'll have to cancel the project if it doesn't turn out right. If I do finish it, it won't be perfect, because some characters will look younger than their ages are in the fic (the Pokemon characters are fine examples of this, especially Ash). Still, it shouldn't affect much; after all, I've already described how they look in the book, so it shouldn't be a real problem. And, I'm going to rewrite certain parts in the first few episodes (the duels for one) to correct errors I made. Well, I don't have anything else to say. Actually, I do have one more thing to say, and that's I hope you enjoy the episode! I think that line is starting to get a bit old now; perhaps I should rephrase that saying later. Ah, whatever. Go on and read.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 15, 'Tribulations, Part 2' (7/4/2003)  
  
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Previously...  
  
A sudden surge of pain jolted in his head. It felt like a migraine's pain multiplied by 100. He couldn't help screaming out in agony. "AHH!!" he yelled. His body began to convulse, twitch, and spasm, and intense pain began to eminate from all areas of his body.  
  
"Brock? What's happening?!" Tristan looked on in horror. A wave of dizziness hit Brock, and he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. His body bumped the ground with an audible thud.  
  
"Brock!" Tristan scurried over to his best friend's side. Brock was still spasming rather badly, then he suddenly stopped. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness," Tristan spat out swiftly. He pulled Brock up and mounted the boy's body onto his back, then darted out of the tint, heading toward the nearest medical center.  
  
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"Joey, Misty? What's up?!" it spoke. Both Misty and Joey turned around to see who it was. Geoff was standing there with a large smile on his face. The two began to smile upon looking at him. "I didn't know you two were out here!" exclaimed Geoff.  
  
"Geoff? What's up, bro?!" Joey laughed and approached the man, with Misty. Misty threw her arms around Geoff, hugging him tightly.  
  
"Oh.. it's so great to see you again, Geoff!" she smiled while hugging. Geoff returned the hug fully, then they let go.  
  
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Seto pulled a card up from his deck and got the Blue Eyes White Dragon. [Perfect! Now all I need to do is hold out for the other two, then I'm set! I've already the cards in my hand needed to execute my strategy!]  
  
"All right! Your Judgeman is toast, Kaiba! I call on the Red Eyes Black Dragon, in attack mode!" Ash yelled out, much to Seto's surprise. The holocard appeared, then a large black ball appeared which dissipated as the card rose out of the ground screeching.  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 2000  
  
"Red Eyes Black Dragon, attack Judgeman! Inferno Fire Blast!!" Ash shouted. The monster reared back, then fired a huge ball of fire into Judgeman, which caused a massive explosion to erupt on Seto's side of the field. He struggled to keep his balance as wind blew against him, and thick smoke covered his field. When it faded, there wasn't a trace of Judgeman left. Ash smirked in satisfaction.  
  
Seto's Life Points- 500  
  
"You're getting closer and closer to defeat, Seto. You may be the World Champion, but I'm a better duelist than you'll ever be. Admit it, I've had you on the ropes since the match began."  
  
"You lie! You haven't been pounding on me throughout the whole duel!"  
  
"Our current life points tell all, Seto," Ash responded.  
  
***Ash's Life Points- 1200/Seto's Life Points- 500***  
  
"See the difference? You're gonna have to kick your game up a few notches before you can even begin to give me a challenge. This duel has been easy so far," Ash told him.  
  
"You may just be getting your wish, and that's sooner than you think," Seto murmered to himself.  
  
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Geoff: "Mai Valentine I presume?" he spoke.  
  
Mai: "Who are you supposed to be?" she asked.  
  
"The name's Geoff Okasinski. I'm here to challenge you to a duel and win back my old friends cards and star chips." he told her boldly.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You have the stars and three cards of a friend of mine, Joey Wheeler; and you have another friends stars, Misty Chase. In case you don't know, I'm here to win them back."  
  
(Later, after presenting a lot of prizes Mai would win if she beat Geoff, the duel began. Current life points at this point in time: Mai- 1400 | Geoff- 3000)  
  
"I guess this dragon will help me now, well Mai say goodbye to Harpy Lady, for I now play Tri-Horn Dragon in attack mode!" The card loaded and Tri- Horn Dragon appeared on the field, growling ferociously.  
  
ATK: 2850 and DEF: 2350  
  
Mai's eyes widened in shock. "Tri-Horn Dragon, attack her Harpy Lady with Tri-Slash!'" With that the Dragon attacks Harpy Lady, but before it could strike, a crystalized wall suddenly sprung out of the ground, protecting Harpie Lady. Geoff's monster slashed the wall three times, but it received an equal attack from its reflection.  
  
ATK: 1425 DEF: 1175  
  
"Now, your monster is doomed! Harpie Lady, attack Tri-Horn Dragon! Whiplash Attack!" Mai shouted. The Mirror Wall lowered back into the ground, allowing Harpie Lady passage. It twirled its rope around in a elegant fashion before lashing out with it. Striking Tri-Horn Dragon right in the chest, the monster screamed before erupted into lots of pieces.  
  
Geoff's Life Points- 2325  
  
"Ha! I sacked one of your toughest monsters, Geoff, what do you have to say about that?"  
  
"It's not close to being over yet, Mai. I still have a 900 plus lead over you, so you've still got a long way to go before you can even imagine winning this match," he told her, then drew a card afterwards.  
  
"Next I'll activate my face-down magic card, Infinite Cards," (activates Infinite Cards) "And finally I play two monsters, both face-down in Defense mode," he said and carried out his command. Two face-down holocards appeared in the midnight black slots in front of him. "Make your move."  
  
"With pleasure," Mai smirked while reaching down to draw a card. She picked it up, then her smirk formed into a gleeful smile. Geoff frowned at this, but he figured that she must've gotten a good card. But, what was it? Could it possibly be a card that could finish him off and cost him everything? Misty told him that her deck was full of surprises. What would happen?  
  
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Down at the shores of Emerald Island, a panic striken Tristan bolted down the sandy coast, carrying his unconscious friend with him. He panted heavily as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, with the addition Brock's weight on his back. Tristan had no idea what was wrong with his friend. Everything was fine, he seemed fine. He was eating, talking - specifically about girls like he always did - and he was laughing, playing, etc. What happened to him? Why did he suddenly start to convulse? Maybe something was bad abotu the fruit he was eating? Tristan finally reached the medical center. He bolted through the doors and ran while shouting at the top of his lungs.  
  
"Help! Help me! Medical emergency!!!" he screamed. This got several doctors attention, and they rushed to see what all the commotion was. They approached Tristan and began to ask him questions.  
  
"Okay, calm down, Mister," a female doctor spoke. "What's wrong with your friend?"  
  
"He's..." before Tristan could finish, Brock began to shake and convulse violently again. He fell off Tristan's back and clashed onto the ground with an audible thud; his body was still spasming and jumping autonomously.  
  
"Okay, get a stretcher, now!" a male doctor shouted. Another doctor ran off and grabbed a nearby stretcher, then wheeled it over to the sickly teenager. The doctors struggled to lift Brock's twitching body onto the stretcher, but they succeeded. They began to run down the hallway, pushing the stretcher along. Brock was sweating profusely as he continued to convulse; there was no control over his muscles. The doctors rushed off into the E.R. Tristan could overhear the same doctors talking with a few more.  
  
"What's the prognosis?" another female doctor asked.  
  
"Very severe convulsing, profuse sweating, all symptoms of a severe seisure," a man replied. The voices grew softer and softer as the doctors ran further away from Tristan. He simply stared into the two small windows on the door, wondering what was happening, and what would become of his best friend?  
  
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***Ash's/Seto's Life Points- 1200 (Ash)/500 (Seto)***  
  
So far, the only monster on the field was Ash's Red Eyes Black Dragon. Seto's Judgeman had just been destroyed by a powerful blast of fire from the dragon. Seto glared at Ash, then looked down at the cards in his hand. [This just disgusts me. How could some punk out of nowhere be able to last this long against me, the World Champion? He's pretty good, I have to admit, but once I execute my strategy, it'll be all over for him.] "Perhaps I should give you a teeny amount of praise since you've managed to last this long against me. Beginner's luck is working well for you, but it won't be for long."  
  
"This isn't beginner's luck, Seto, this is skill, the skill of a true champion," Ash replied.  
  
"That's your prerogative," Seto commented and drew a card from his deck. In his hand he held yet another Blue Eyes White Dragon. [Allright! Just perfect! All I need now is the last Blue Eyes, and I'm set to go! To keep Ash at bay, I'd better start defending myself from attacks.] "I play Saggi the Dark Clown, in defense mode," Seto said while placing the card onto the console. In a flash of light, Saggi appeared on the field laughing.  
  
ATK: 600 DEF: 1500  
  
Ash burst into laughter. "I'm surprised a so-called bad-ass like you would keep such a feeble card in your deck."  
  
"I have my reasons for keeping this in my deck, punk. Go ahead and make your move."  
  
Ash pulled up a card, then looked at it. It wasn't a very good card, so he simply added it to his hand. "For this turn, I'll attack your clown! Red Eyes Black Dragon, Inferno Fire Blast!" Ash shouted. His monster roared and shot out a huge red fireball, aimed right at Saggi. The clown didn't stand a chance. The fireball crashed onto Seto's side of the field, erupting in an explosion. Seto shielded himself from dust and such as Saggi was vaporized by the attack. When the smoke cleared, not a trace of the monster was left.  
  
"Ha, I got this duel won," Ash mused.  
  
"If you think you got this duel in the bag, you're wrong. This duel is far from over, and I'm gonna prove it," Seto retorted and drew a card. Unfortunately, for him, it wasn't the third Blue Eyes White Dragon, but it could still be used regardless. He slapped it onto the console. "Hitosume Giant, in defense mode!" The monster jumped out of its holocard and growled.  
  
ATK: 1200 DEF: 1000  
  
"Red Eyes, you know what to do! Destroy Hitosume Giant!" Ash commanded. Red Eyes Black Dragon spewed out its fireball and blew Hitosume Giant into pieces. Seto growled at the might of Ash's monster, but he knew it would not be standing there for long. If he could just draw the third Blue Eyes White Dragon, this match would be a cinch. He reached out to grab a card. Pulling it up, it still wasn't what he was looking for. He simply added it to his hand.  
  
"All right, enough playing around. Even though I don't have all the cards I want as of now, I can still kill your stupid dragon. Behold.. (pulled card out of his hand).. the supreme might of the ultra-rare, legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Seto exclaimed as he slammed down the card. Ash gasped in shock as Blue Eyes White Dragon materialized onto the field in a brilliant display of white lights. It growled fericously as it stared into the eyes of its opponent.  
  
ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500  
  
"Nothing can stop your puny, inferior Red Eyes Black Dragon from tasting the incredible destruction of my superior dragon! Go, Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack your rival now! White Lightning Attack!" Seto shouted. Ash braced himself for harsh winds and fierce shaking. The Blue Eyes reared back and powered a ball of pure lightning in its mouth, then shot it out at Red Eyes in the form of a destructive beam. The beam tore through Red Eyes Black Dragon, causing the monster to scream out in pure pain before exploding into pieces. Smoke covered the field, fierce winds blew against Ash, and Seto laughed in glee.  
  
Ash's Life Points- 600  
  
"Now the score is nearly tied, punk, and I have yet to unleash the most powerful creature my deck can muster," Seto quipped.  
  
"Oh yeah? Well, here's a news flash for you Seto, neither have I," snapped Ash.  
  
"We'll see which of us is truly the stronger duelist in due time. And I am certain it is I."  
  
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Domino City was a sprawling, bustling city, but there were a few secluded spots in the area. One of those such spots had a large, white iron fence built around a huge, three story, traditional red brick mansion. Several stone fish sat on the front lawn of the house, and out of their mouths shot large, tall arches of crystal clear water. The green grass was neatly trimmed all around the house. Pathways made of the finest stone paved walkways around various places of the gardens. There was a huge aquamaze in the backyard of the house. The aquamaze was constructed much like a hedgemaze, but instead, gentle water was flowing down walls made of stone rocks, and the waters deposited into small canals which ran adjacent to the stone pathways within the maze. Within the aquamaze, sat a rather large, golden jacuzzi. It was currently on, meaning that the waters were gushing about in a soothing, relaxing manner. Under the surface of the water, were two, naked figures rolling about, kissing passionately in the buoyant, watery setting. One of the figures was Maximillion Pegasus, and the other was Sakura Avalon. They were obviously enjoying the presence of each other. Their lips pressed against one another's and they continued kissing, both enjoying every minute of the tranquil, serene, bubbly, and gurgly moment. Eventually, the two slowly stopped, looking deeply into each other's eyes. Sakura gently ran her hand through Pegasus's platinum hair while smiling. The two floated back up to the surface, where their heads slowly emerged out of the water. Both took in a few breaths of air.  
  
"Oh, Maximillion, I love you so much," Sakura spoke.  
  
"And I.. you..." he returned. Her smiled widened, and he began to smile too. They started to lean into yet another kiss, but without warning, a ringing sound interrupted. It was Pegasus's cell phone. His clothes were lying about on the ground; he reached over and pulled the small phone out of his pants pocket. He pressed a button before holding the phone up to his ear.  
  
"Pegasus here."  
  
"Mr. Pegasus, there is someone here who wishes to see you," his loyal guard and companion, Croquet, told him. "She says it is somewhat urgent."  
  
"Tell her I'm on my way," Pegasus said, then clicked the phone off.  
  
"Who is that?" Sakura asked.  
  
"There's a businesswoman who wishes to see me. I must go," Pegasus replied.  
  
"Do you have to, Maximillion? Everything's so perfect right now; why let some businesswoman ruin everything?"  
  
"You know that I have a business to run, sweetie," Pegasus said soothingly. He caressed Sakura's soft face and smiled. "Don't worry, I won't be gone long." And with that, he stood up and began climbing out of the tub. Sakura was engrossed at Pegasus's "features" as he climbed out.  
  
[Ohh... his penis is so cute... and so his ass... and his pecs... and... everything...] Sakura's mind began to drown in thoughts pertaining to Pegasus. She loved him so much. She loved everything about him, from his sweet, gentle voice, to his lovely, platinum hair, to his penis, Sakura was simply infatuated with the man. She could not get enough of him. When he was away, she felt as if she could not go on without seeing him. She just had to hear his voice, feel his lips, suck his penis, touch his balls, lick his tongue, and caress his face every single day. After climbing out of the jacuzzi, Pegasus quickly put on his articles of clothing and began to walk away. He looked back at Sakura and smiled.  
  
"I will be back, promise," he stated. Sakura smiled and watched him go.  
  
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Several weeks had passed. Maximillion Pegasus had to go away on a business trip to discuss business. He was settling an agreement with someone. Sakura lay in her bedroom (of her own house), lost in thought. She had no idea how long Pegasus would be gone. Business trips always took a long time, and she absolutely hated them. They always seemed to appear just when everything is perfect, when their love is at their peak, when she can see in his eyes that he's pondering the big question... (yes, I know Sakura is a minor in this fic). Once he comes back, he seems just... distant. That sparkle of love and excitement in his eyes doesn't appear to be there anymore. It's as if someone drains it from him... "it" being his love for her. When he comes back, he appear to love her, but it doesn't be nearly as intense as it would be before he left to go on a business trip. Sakura didn't know why Pegasus would act that way. She thought that he would be even more obsessed with her after being parted from her for over three weeks or so, but when he come back, he seems empty. The intense drive, the spark of love, it will have vanished. It's like she has to work it back into him, or like she has to climb up the career ladder of his love all over again until she gets near the top, then he leaves and it all goes away. Then, when he comes back, she has to work back up all over again. Sakura decided that she had enough of this mysterious behavior. She was going to find out why he acted that way, and she was going to confront him about it.  
  
Oblivious to Sakura, her man had found himself another woman on this business trip. In the background, R. Kelly's "Snake" blared over speakers. They were "working" to the rhythm and beat of the song. He fell onto the bed with the woman on top of him, kissing her ravenously. She returned the kisses fully and moaned raucously while rolling over, putting Pegasus on top of her. Pegasus began to grab and rub her breasts while kissing her; his face was one of pure joy and happiness. Both of them moaned passionately. Pegasus stopped kissing her, then rubbed and licked on her stomach in an aggressive fashion.  
  
"How do you like that? How do you like that? How do you like that, my Cecilia?!" he shouted while rubbing and licking. Cecilia laughed and moaned while Pegasus continued.  
  
"That's right, work it, work it, work it!" she yelled. "Give it to me, Pegsy! Ohh!" she snatched Pegasus's head back down toward her and kissed him rousingly. Pegasus returned the kiss and moaned passionately while doing so. He stopped and sat up again, then grabbed his penis and stuck it down into Cecilia's pussycat. Cecilia pulled herself up into a sitting position and Maximillion leaned down toward her; the two began to kiss once again. Pegasus turned his penis from left to right inside Cecilia's pussycat, and she giggled. "Snake" continued blaring over the powerful speakers...  
  
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More weeks had passed by. After Pegasus's very intense business trip, he had returned back to Domino City. Sakura, completely and utterly oblivious as to what happened, greeted Pegasus with open arms and showers of kisses. Strangely, and much to Sakura's surprise, he didn't seem distant this time around. He acted like a man who hadn't seen his lover in years, and finally got in contact with her again. This made Sakura really happy, and she quickly forgot about confronting him.  
  
"I'm so glad to see you again, Maximillion," Sakura told him. Pegasus rubbed his hand through her long, (brown) spiraled hair and smiled.  
  
"So am I, my darling," he answered. Sakura smiled at this, and she slowly leaned into another kiss. Her lips met his and she began to french kiss him passionately. Pegasus returned the favor gently; the two stood there engrossed in a moment of love, passion, and romance.  
  
Time went by. The orange sky that accomidated evening times had faded into a nighttime sky. A full moon was out, and beautiful stars decorated the sky, making it a gorgeous sight to all eyes. Sakura was in the living room of her house eating a tangerine while looking through a celebrity magazine featuring all the hottest celebs. Pegasus told her that he was beat from the hectic business trip, so she left him so that he could get proper rest. She wanted to help him out by cooking him his favorite meals with a "Sakura" twist to them, but he insisted that she should go home, and that his butlers were taking care of everything. Although she tried, she just didn't want to stay away, and couldn't stay away. She hadn't seen him in about a month. Sakura sat the magazine on the couch and ate the last bit of the tangerine; she slipped on some glass sandals (specially made for her by Pegasus) and stood. She looked at herself in a mirror to make sure her hair was still perfect, then she walked toward the front entrance of her house. She opened the door and stepped outside, then she locked the door back with a key before leaving. Moments later, she arrived at Pegasus's mansion. She cleared her throat before knocking on the door. A few seconds passed by before a butler opened the door.  
  
"Um, I'm here to see Mr. Pegasus," she stated.  
  
"And you are?"  
  
"Sakura Avalon. I'm a close friend," she replied.  
  
"Would you like me to go get Mr. Pegasus, ma'am?" the butler offered, but Sakura shook her head in response.  
  
"No thanks, I want to surprise him," she said while grinning.  
  
"Very well." The butler stepped out of the way, leaving her room to walk inside the house. Sakura smiled while walking inside. The butler closed the door and walked off in order to tend to cleaning. At this time of night, Pegasus could be found in his bedroom enjoying a glass of champagne while reading a comic, so Sakura immediately headed for his room. The house was huge, so it took a little while to reach her destination. When she did, she noticed something that was pretty unusual. Some loud hip-hop music could be heard, and it was coming from inside the room. Sakura was a little puzzled by this, since Pegasus generally had no liking for loud music; he preferred soft, easy listening music, or classical style music. Sometimes he would play soft jazz ballads, and the music would always be played on a soft volume. It was weird to hear him playing hip-hop, especially at a loud volume. Sakura slowly walked toward the bedroom doors, the glass sandals giving off a "clack" like sound with each step she took on the marble floor. She wondered what he was doing in there... Some voices could be heard. They could barely be heard over the blaring music, but Sakura still managed to pick them up. Who was that and what were they doing in there? She would never know until she opened the door and found out. Approaching the door, Sakura noticed that it was slightly cracked open. She carefully placed her hand on the door and pushed it open a little bit to get a better view of the room. What was inside nearly caused her to have a heart attack...  
  
Missy Elliot's "Pussycat" blared over speakers. Inside the bedroom, there was Pegasus laying naked on his bed, with a naked woman (Cecilia) on top of him! She was groaning seductively as Pegasus jammed his penis into Cecilia's pussycat and started making "grrr" noises (they were rocking and moving to the beat of the song during all those motions, too). The woman growled back and the two began to let out piss... then both began to laugh. Afterwards, Cecilia forced Pegasus onto his back. She streched his butt cheeks open, then stuck her head into the crack and began licking each side like a primal animal. They were both still moving to the rhythm of the song.  
  
Sakura nearly threw up all of the tangerine she had ate before hand. It took her quite a while to regain her composure, then she decided that the show could not go on. She was going to put an end to this. The two were now rolling around like gorillas, kissing, licking, and biting all over one another. They growled seductively while doing so.  
  
"Maximillion?!!" she suddenly screamed out.  
  
The two abrupted stopped their smoking hot sex and looked toward the doorway, where the sound came from. Of course, their eyes rested on Sakura. The girl's face showed utter disbelief at the scene she accidentally barged into, and she looked hurt. Pegasus gasped while shoving Cecilia off of him. "Sakura!" his face showed nothing but pure shock. There was NOTHING he could say to lie it off and get away with it. What he was doing was obvious as all outdoors. The song faded away, and the radio wasn't set on repeat, so the playback stopped.  
  
Sakura simply stood there, her mouth gaped open. She was so shocked that she just couldn't bring herself to say anything as of now. Cecilia wrapped the bedspread around her body while staring at Pegasus. "Who is this, Pegsy?" she asked.  
  
"Uh..." Pegasus's voice trailed off.  
  
Several moments of very awkard silence passed. "You nasty... disgusting.. fucking bastard!" Sakura finally yelled out. Pegasus quickly grabbed Cecilia and ran over to the closet.  
  
"Maximillion, what are you... ahh!" Cecilia yelped as Pegasus shoved her into the closet, then slammed the door afterwards. He locked the door, then turned to face Sakura.  
  
"Sakura, please... it's not what you think," Pegasus rushed out. Cecilia's banging on the door could be heard in the background, along with her yelling and ordering Pegasus to let her out.  
  
"So what is then?! Care to enlighten me?!"  
  
"What I was doing.. it-it... it was all for the greater good of our relationship..."  
  
"How? How is you fucking a bitch benefiting our relationship?!" Sakura shouted.  
  
"Sakura, please, calm down and let me ex..." before Pegasus could finish, Sakura interrupted him.  
  
"Calm down?... How dare you tell me to calm down!!" she yelled, tears beginning to run down her face. "How can you expect me to be calm when I come up here and see this.. this freak show raging on?!!"  
  
"Sakura, just listen, okay? This is benefiting our relationship. All of the new sex 'techniques' I learned with her I will be able to deliver to you! This is all just a way for me to make better love to you!" Pegasus argued.  
  
"Bitch!! Punk-ass bitch!! Filthy-ass bastard!!" Sakura yelled in disgust. Anger showed all over her face. "That's the lamest shit I've ever heard in my life!!!"  
  
"The 'shit' is true, Sakura! I wanted to take my sex level up to a greater notch, and the only way I could do that is fuck someone I never fucked before! I've 'mastered' you, and I needed to introduce some..."  
  
"SHUT UP, YOU NASTY MOTHERFUCKER!!!!" Sakura screamed at the top of lungs. A few more moments of silence passed before she continued on. "I've given you my all, Maximillion. I've given you my heart, body, and soul! I.. I loved you with all my heart! All my body! All my soul! Everything about you I loved, and all I wanted to do was make you happy...." Sakura hung her head as she sniffled and sobbed. She was hurt. She was in utter pain. All her happy dreams and fantasies about them getting married and living on a tropical island all by themselves had just been shattered. She couldn't believe Pegasus did her like that. She didn't think he could do her like that. Sakura didn't think that Pegasus had it in him.  
  
"Sakura, just hear me..."  
  
"I SAID DON'T TALK TO ME!!!" she snapped. Pegasus was taken aback at all her rage and anger. "Don't ever look at me, don't ever call me, don't ever speak to me, don't ever come near me again!!! Hell, don't even think about me, you worthless piece of shit!! Just stay away from me!!" Sakura couldn't stay in the house any longer. She turned and stormed out of the bedroom. She slammed the door behind her and walked down the hallway angrily. Pegasus got off the bed and ran after her.  
  
"Sakura, wait, please!"  
  
"Just stay in there and fuck that shell of a bitch, and keep away from me, or else..." she threatened in a scary, violent tone of voice. Pegasus didn't say anything, or move any closer to her. Sakura gave him a long, deadly stare, then turned and walked away slowly.  
  
Entering back into her house, Sakura closed the door behind her and dropped to her knees, sobbing and crying painfully. Tears rained out of her eyes, literally. She was heartbroken by what Pegasus had just did. She couldn't believe it... the love of her life had turned on her... just like that. He seemed so obsessed and in love with her, and now he was screwing other women. There was no telling how many women he had been with before she came along, and how many he had been with while they were seeing each other. Why? Why did he do that to her? Sakura's sobs echoed off the walls of the house...  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
It had been about a year since those awful events. Sakura often asked herself: why should she even bother trying to win back Pegasus's love? He hurt her badly. Several months after that incident she cried. She remebered her older brother Tori trying to comfort her, but no amount of comforting he gave her could sotp her from crying. Nothing he did or said made her feel better. Pegasus really hurted her when he did that, so why should she try getting him back? Sakura just didn't want to believe that Pegasus willingly cheated on her with another woman. Maybe the woman drugged him so that he would do whatever she want, and then they started screwing each other. Maybe that's what happened. She drugged him to make him do her bidding. Sakura didn't want to believe that Pegasus chose to hurt her like he did. That tramp had something to do with it. Once she make it to his palace, she would find out everything.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Mai giggled in glee for a little while, which made Geoff began to prepare for the worst. It had to be a pretty good card, or else she wouldn't be laughing. But what was it? Only time would tell... "Okay, pretty boy, feast your eyes on this! I play Elegant Egotist, which triples my Harpie attack force!" she yelled while throwing down the card. Geoff was a little surprised at Mai's dueling skills. She was actually turning out to be a challenge, just as Misty said before. Two more Harpie Ladies emerged from the original; three Harpie Ladies stood on the field when the magic card completed its effect.  
  
ATK: 2450 DEF: 2100  
  
"Now, Harpie Ladies, combine your powers, and blow away Geoff's second defense monster!" The monsters began to charge a radiant, yellow light in their hand. Yellow lines flowed out of the light, and formed a triangle. Within the triangle, a giant, red X emerged and shot out at the defense card. It plundered into the holocard and exploded; the ghost of a Guardian of the Throne Room exploded into smoke and pieces also. Geoff didn't lose any life points because the monster was in defense mode.  
  
"Ha, ha, ha, that was certainly entertaining. Got anything else to show off, Geoff (referring to Tri-Horn Dragon)?" Mai inquired.  
  
"Most definitely," Geoff retorted. He drew a card from the deck and grinned. It was another Exodia piece. He already had one piece laying face- down on the field, along with another face-down defense monster. He decided to keep the piece in his hand, since there was no limit to how many cards he could hold, thanks to Infinite Cards. He picked up another card out of his hand and threw it onto the field. "I play this monster card, face- down," he said, then watched the holocard materialize.  
  
"Still chickening, hunh?" Mai quipped. "I thought a big guy like you took it like it came; I didn't know you ran from people, especially a little girl like me."  
  
"I'm not chickening, Mai, I'm simply using a tactic. Go ahead and make your move," he replied.  
  
"With pleasure." Mai pulled a card out of her deck and smiled. "All right, this is great. I play this magic card, Gorgon's Eye!" she yelled and placed it down. Geoff let out a slight gasp and Mai chuckled. "Just watch the field, Geoff. I don't think you're gonna like this one bit."  
  
Both of Geoff's defense monsters suddenly loaded; the two monsters being Spirit of the Harp and Sangan. Then, they slowly began to turn into stone. "Both my defense monsters have turned into stone!" Geoff exclaimed.  
  
"Bingo!" Mai returned, then laughed. "And the best part is, once I destroy one of your 'stoned' monsters, half of their defense points will be deducted from your life points! Harpie Ladies, combine your power and attack Spirit of The Harp!!" she shouted in glee. The three sisters forged the giant X with their powers and launched it at Spirit of the Harp. The attack tore through the stone monster and obliterated it. Geoff shielded his eyes from the light. "Guess what? Since you lose half of the monster's defense power, and Spirit of the Harp's defense power was 2000, you lose 1000 life points!"  
  
Geoff: 1325 LP | Mai: 1400 LP  
  
"Oh, shit," Geoff muttered.  
  
"Oh, look! I'm actually winning the duel! I've got a 75 point lead over you! I know it's not much, but it's a start nonetheless," Mai pointed out. "Well, my turn is over, so make your move."  
  
Geoff pulled a card out of the deck, which turned out to be Witch of the Black Forest. [Oh no! This is bad because the moment I try to play this card in defense mode, Mai's trap card will activate and turn it into one large, stone target.] He decided to add the card to his hand, then noticed a card in his hand. He placed it face-down onto the field in the magic/trap zone.  
  
"Hmm... gotta be hiding something of importance under that holocard of yours. I wonder what it could be?" Mai spoke. She grabbed a card from her deck, but didn't get what she wanted. She added it to her hand and began to think carefully about her next move. If she attacked and it turned out being some kind of trap card, or magic card, that could destroy her Harpie Ladies, her entire strategy will be wrecked. On the other hand, that card could be there just to throw her off... what should she do? Geoff could be counting on her to be precautious and end her turn without attacking his 'stoned' Sangan. He could also be counting on her to attack so that he can flip up a surprise card that could kill her.  
  
"I'm just gonna take a chance and attack Sangan! Harpie Ladies, Exterminator attack!" she yelled, her voice carrying a slight bit of worry in it. The monsters charged up the attack and unleashed the giant red X at Sangan; the X tore through the torso of the creature and caused it to combust into thousands of pieces with a loud bang sounding. "And since it was a monster effected by Gorgon's Eye, half of Sangan's defense power will be deducted from your life points!"  
  
Geoff's Life Points- 1025  
  
Geoff frowned slightly while Mai giggled. "You won't be giggling for long, I promise you," he told her and drew a card afterwards. It turned out to be Magical Hats, which could prove to be useful. "I play one card face-down, then..." Drawing another card from his hand, he slapped it onto the console. "...I'll play one more card face-up, in attack mode," he stated, then watched the two holocards appear on the field, one of them bringing forth Lady Assailant of Flames.  
  
ATK: 1500 DEF: 1000  
  
"Not much else you can do, hunh? You can't defend yourself, because Gorgon's Eye will turn any of your monsters to giant stone statues the moment you do. Well, I'm not going to waste time running off at the mouth all day. I wanna defeat you so I can get my rewards," she smirked (her eyes twinkled in delight, anime style) while drawing her card. "Perfect! Just the card I've been waiting for! Go, Harpie's Pet Dragon, in attack mode!" she yelled while throwing down the card. After a fireball erupted next to the Harpie Lady Sisters, the reddish, pinkish dragon found itself on the field, right next to its masters.  
  
"And of course, my dragon gets a 300 attack point power boost for every Harpie Lady on the field. Count up three, which means my dragon gets a 900 point power boost!"  
  
ATK: 2900 DEF: 2500  
  
"And now, Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack Lady Assailant of Flames with Fearsome Fire Blast!" The dragon wasted no time and spewed out a powerful beam of fire, aimed right at Geoff's monster. As the attack neared closer and closer, Geoff suddenly activated his card.  
  
"Not so fast, Mai! I'm invoking the powers of Magical Hats!" he announced, much to Mai's surprise.  
  
"No, not those damn hats!"  
  
Four hats suddenly sprung up out of nowhere, and they covered all the monsters on Geoff's side of the field, which included: the one Exodia piece, and Lady Assailant of Flames. The hats shuffled around at incredible speeds before stopping; the fire blast plastered into the fourth hat (the one of the far right) and obliterated it. Smoke covered the area for a short while, but when it faded, Mai's attack hadn't affected any of Geoff's monsters. "Ha! You missed, Mai!"  
  
"Fuck," she muttered while rolling her eyes.  
  
Geoff pulled up a card from his deck. It was Jirai Gumo. It was a pretty powerful card, but it couldn't even take down the Harpie Lady Sisters, let alone the dragon. Playing it in defense mode would do no good, either, because Gorgon's Eye would turn it into stone. There had to be something he could do. There was only one hat currently on the field that didn't have anything underneath it; the other two did. If Mai attacked the right one, she could wipe him out. It was too much of a gamble. But right now, the gamble was pretty much the only option he had. He didn't have any other options left as of now. He sighed heavily and prepared himself for the utmost worst. "No move this time, I end my turn."  
  
"You may not have a move to make, but I do. Pet Dragon, aim for the far left hat and fire!"  
  
Harpie's Pet Dragon roared and fired the blast. Mai clenched her fists tightly, hoping she hit the hat with the Lady Assailant of Flames underneath. Only time would tell...  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
The gray, steel doors slid open, and Pegasus walked out. He was in the dungeon chambers of his palace. It had been a little while since he last confronted Morty about the Millenium Key, and now, he was trying once again. He was growing tired of all this constant torturing, which was really a violent way of begging the boy for what he wanted. Pegasus never begged anyone for anything before (unless you count the one time he tried to beg for Sakura's forgiveness), and he certainly did not want to beg now, but since the circumstances called for it, he just had to swallow his pride and do it. He had a Digital Voodoo Doll in his hand. A modification of the standard Voodoo Doll he used last time, the Digital Voodoo Doll was nothing more than the magic of the regular Voodoo Doll transferred into a small, digital device via witchcraft. This gave him even more violent options of pain because, instead of carrying out an action with his hands as he did before, all he had to do was type in an action, and the computer would do it for him. Therefore, he could type in whimsical actions that he could not do on his own, the computer matrix would do it to the doll, and the doll's magic would relay the pain over to Morty. Last time he used the standard version, Morty came close to telling. With the enhanced Voodoo Doll working against on his side, chances are Morty would spill how to get the key off his neck.  
  
"I could probably have the Millenium Key already. What stopped me that time was when that bitch-ass punk Duke staged an invasion to get his revenge. But now, since Duke ran from me to escape the awesome powers of my Millenium Eye, nothing should stop me from getting the key." Pegasus approached the cell; within Morty was chained to the wall, still. There was a feeding tube connected to him to supply him with food and water since he refused to eat it on his own. Lowering the force field, Pegasus stepped inside and grinned sinisterly.  
  
"Hello, Morty boy, long time no see," he spoke in his usual, bugsome and irking manner.  
  
Morty looked up and saw him. His facial expression turned into a scowl upon laying eyes on him. He began talking in a icy manner. "What the hell do you want now, Pegasus?"  
  
"Oh, now, don't be so hostile," Pegasus quipped, taking steps toward him. "And what kind of question is that? (his voice changed to a more serious tone) You know good and well what I'm down here for."  
  
"Going after my key again? When will you learn? You can keep me down here until I wither and die, but you'll never get this from me, dick. This is a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation, and I'm not about to let you disrupt our family tradition."  
  
"How touching. Maybe I should just pull my nose out of your business and let you fuckers continue your silly tradition... Not! That Millenium Key has only one owner, and that owner will be me! I'm telling you right now, Morty, you'd better give that key to me, or else, you're gonna have a whole world of pain and suffering to deal with," Pegasus threatened.  
  
"Bring it on, then," Morty retorted. "When my father gave this key to me, he told me to guard it with my life."  
  
Pegasus scowled at Morty's defiant behavior. "Fine then. You wanna play rough? Let's play rough then." He whipped out the Digital Voodoo Doll. "Remeber the Voodoo Doll, Morty? (Morty gasped) The little Voodoo Dolly? The last time I used it on you, you were begging me to stop. It looked as though you were actually pondering the thought of giving up the key. And I wasn't doing much to the doll. This is the enhanced version, the Digital Voodoo Doll. When I get through with you this time, you'll be begging me to stop."  
  
Morty's voice changed from the defiant manner it had before to one of slight fear. "I'm not afraid of you, Pegasus. Do... do your worst."  
  
"As you wish, ass," Pegasus snapped. To give Morty a warning of what he was about to endure, he simply typed in a command to break the Voodoo Doll's neck. The exact pain a person feels when their neck is broken pulsed through Morty's neck, but he didn't die. It was all in his head. That was the specialty of using a Voodoo Doll, and it gave Pegasus an advantage. He could do whatever he wanted to the doll, and Morty would feel it as if it was actually happening to him, but it really wasn't. He groaned as his eyes rolled up in his head due to the pain. Pegasus decided to get much more violent and rougher. He twisted the head of the doll off (of course, he's typing the actions in), making Morty cry out in pure pain. Pegasus jammed the head back into the doll and made it pop out the doll's penis. He clashed the doll's two kidneys together, then mashed it into the heart of the doll. Pegasus made the doll throw up all of its insides, and in turn, all the pain associated with the last actions were carried out on Morty.  
  
"AAAUUGH!!!!!" he screamed. The pain was too much to bear...  
  
"How do you like that, Morty-boy? Will you give up the key, hmm?" Pegasus inquired. Morty shook his head in response. "Still trying to be brave, hunh? I guess you need a more violent demonstration of the Digital Voodoo Doll's wrath?" Pegasus began typing on the keys again. He blew the penis off the doll, then jammed a dog's head, which was filled with large spikes, into the hole. He made more spikes suddenly spring out of the doll's eyes. He started cooking the doll from the inside out by making his blood temperature rising to 300 degrees Kelvin. Last but not least, he placed a woman's womb into the body. Since a womb DID NOT belong there, it caused excruiating pain to eminate from Morty's body. To finish it off, Pegasus made Morty deliver a child in a second. Morty screamed out inhuman screams of pain. Pegasus began to laugh wickedly.  
  
"How do you like that, little punk? Do you surrender, or do you prefer more pain?" he asked him, then began to laugh sinisterly. His laugh echoed off the walls of the dungeons.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Ash: 600 LP | Seto: 500 LP  
  
The duel was drawing to a close; soon some one would be victorious. Seto's Blue Eyes White Dragon was the only monster currently on the field. It had just obliterated Ash's Red Eyes, which meant that it was Ash's turn to move. He picked up a card, which turned out to be Dark Magician. It could come in handy a little later. He added the card to his hand, then grabbed another card from his hand and slapped it onto the console on his arm.  
  
"I play this monster, Cannon Soldier, in defense mode," he spoke, then the monster materialized onto the field afterwards.  
  
ATK: 400 DEF: 1300  
  
"What a measly card," Seto mused while drawing another card. It still wasn't the third Blue Eyes! Getting a bit frustrated, he threw the card into his hand, then looked up at his monster. "All right, Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack Ash's Cannon Soldier now!" he snapped.  
  
The monster complied with Seto and powered up it's attack. It roared sinisterly while shooting the beam at Cannon Soldier. The soldier exploded into pieces upon being hit with the beam. The beam left a large radius of damage in the spot also. "Take that, punk!"  
  
Ash frowned and drew another card. "I'll play two cards face-down, then I'll play: Armed Ninja, in defense mode!" he yelled. The cards appeared on the field, then Armed Ninja jumped out of its holocards, making its trademark battle cry.  
  
ATK: 300 DEF: 300  
  
Seto couldn't help but laugh. "I can't believe you have such a ridiculous piece of shit in your deck! Then again, your deck isn't nothing but shit, so it's not surprising that such a wimpy monster like that found its way into your feeble deck."  
  
"Shut it, and make your move!" Ash retorted.  
  
"Don't tell me what to do, you pop-eyed fucker! I move when I'm ready!" Seto shot back, then pulled up a card. To his surprise, it was the third Blue Eyes White Dragon! Seto's lips curved into a huge smile. "Hahaha, I guess it's over for you. You put a pretty decent fight for a sissy, but now, the end has come. At least, for you it has. Prepare to meet your doom! First, I play these two cards from my hand, both being Blue Eyes White Dragon, in attack mode!" Seto announced. The monsters loaded onto the field, both growling fericously at Ash. "Now I play the magic card Polymerization, which I'll use to fuse all three of my Blue Eyes White Dragons, into one monster of unparralled wrath and might!"  
  
"Oh no..." Ash's voice trailed off. The monsters were surrounded by bright light, then they began to slowly fuse together. "This is bad..."  
  
"This is the end of the line for you, punk! After what you've shown me, nothing in that deck of yours can stand a chance against the might of my monster! You're doomed!" Seto taunted. After a while, the fusion finally completed, and when the light faded, Ash found himself face-to-face with one large, mammoth-sized creature. The dragon had three seperate roars all merged into one, and it let out a bellow like none before.  
  
"That dragon is huge... but I'm ready for it..." Ash muttered.  
  
"Behold, the legendary Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Seto shouted in pride and triumph.  
  
ATK: 4500 DEF: 3800  
  
"You may as well call it quits. Nothing you have can save you from my dragon's wrath! And to ensure my victory, I play one last card, Lord of Dragon, in defense mode! This card makes all magic and trap cards useless against any dragon on the field!" Seto slapped down another card onto a slot, causing the monster to appear on the field.  
  
ATK: 1100 DEF: 1200  
  
"Oh no... it's not gonna work now," Ash said quietly.  
  
"Now, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack Ash's Armed Ninja now! Neutron Blast attack!!" The dragon began to power up its attack. Electricity began to spark as the dragon's three heads began to power a charge. Electricity began sparking furiously as the attack reached it full potential. Suddenly, the dragon unleashed the mighty attack at Ash's monster. Upon connecting, an enormous explosion erupted. Armed Ninja was obliterated, and the groud shook due the dragon's immense strength. Ash struggled to keep his balance and shielded his eyes from the light.  
  
Seto laughed menacingly. "That's right, you little punk. Tremble and cower to the might of my monster. Now that your last monster has been wiped out, on my next turn, I can finish you off!"  
  
"Fat chance!" Ash quipped sarcasticly. He grabbed a card from his deck, which turned out to be Witch's Apprentice. [Allright! Just what I needed! I can play this in combination with my Dark Magician, and have that massive dragon obliterated in no time! I gotta be careful, though.] Grabbing the Dark Magician, he placed the two cards onto the console. "I play Witch's Apprentice in defense mode, and Dark Magician, in attack mode!" Ash stated, and after a few seconds, the monsters found themselves on the field, staring into the menacing eyes of Seto's mighty creature.  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100 | (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 1000 DEF: 500  
  
"And, in case you didn't know, Witch's Apprentice has a special effect which raises all Dark type monster's attack and defense points by 500, including herself!"  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 3000 DEF: 2600 | (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 1500 DEF: 1000  
  
"Wow. How nice," Seto said, with no nervousness in his voice. He wasn't phased at all. "It's a nice strategy, I'll admit, but once I take out your stupid Dark Magician, it'll be all over for you. You see, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon has 4500 attack points, whereas Dark Magician only has 3000. Do the math, and you wind up with a difference of 1500 in their attack points. You don't even have 1000 life points, which means, after my dragon gets done attacking, you will be wiped out. You've just made your last mistake, and your last move. Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, get rid of Dark Magician! Neutron Blast!"  
  
The Ultimate Blue Eyes powered up its attack and fired the beam straight at Dark Magician. "Hold on, Seto! I'm not out yet! Reveal face-down card: Negate Attack!" Ash yelled. Seto was a bit surprised as Ash's card activated, causing a warp field to appear in front of Dark Magician. The destructive beam clashed into the mystical warp and was absorbed. Then, the warp vanished. "Now, it's my turn again, and Dark Magician receives yet another 500 attack and defense point boost, along with the witch!"  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 3500 DEF: 3100 | (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 2000 DEF: 1500  
  
Seto's gleeful, carefree facial expression began to fade away, being replaced with a scowl. There was no way he was going to let Ash come back and beat him, not when he was so close to winning the match, and enough stars to enter the main competition. "Hanging on desperately, aren't you? You just won't give up. You won't beat me or my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon; I'll make sure of it."  
  
"We'll see about that, sissy-dick." Ash pulled up a card from his deck. Looking at it, it turned out to be something else that could be of use. "I'll lay another card face-down, and end my turn."  
  
The holocard appeared, turned over. Seto growled softly, then pulled up a card from his deck. It wasn't something he could use to reveal Ash's card, so he simply added it to his hand. "Ultimate Blue Eyes, go for the Dark Magician again! Neutron Blast!" he shouted.  
  
"Going for the magician again, eh? I'm ready for you," Ash said to himself. The blast shot out of the dragons' mouths, heading straight for the Dark Magician. As the attack came closer and closer, Ash flipped up his face- down card. "Reveal face-down card: Magical Hats!"  
  
"No!!!" Seto screamed in frustration. The four hats materialized onto the field, covering up Ash's monsters. They shuffled arouund quickly, then the blast of lightning struck down the first hat (the one on the far left). The deep rumbling of the explosion bounced through the cave walls. When the smoke cleared up, Seto hadn't destroyed any monster. "No!!"  
  
"Just great! You didn't destroy anything! It's my turn again now, and my monsters receive yet another attack and defense point boost."  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 4000 DEF: 3600 | (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000  
  
"They're getting stronger and stronger, Seto. If you don't find the right hat soon, it'll be all over for you," Ash taunted menacingly. He grinned in a way that would annoy the hell out of someone.  
  
"You won't beat me, you sniveling, nasty, skinny bastard! I'm the World Champion!! My dueling skills are greater that yours will ever be!! You can't win!" Seto yelled in pure anger. "Ultimate Blue Eyes, attack the middle hat now!!" he snapped angrily. The monster complied with his order and fired the lightning blast. The blast plastered into the hat and blew it into pieces. Did the attack hit the hat with the Dark Magician underneath? Had Seto succeeded in stopping Ash's comeback plan? The answer was revealed when the smoke faded away. Seto had obliterated another empty hat.  
  
"Not again! This can't be happening to me! I'm not supposed to be struggling against some unknown punk-ass! I'm the World Champion!"  
  
"A title doesn't make any difference when it comes down to dueling, motherfucker. Any simpleton know that!" Ash told him, then went on to remind Seto that his monsters were getting stronger still.  
  
(Dark Magician) ATK: 4500 DEF: 4100 | (Witch's Apprentice) ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500  
  
"Just one more turn, Seto. One more turn and I'll be taking you down. There's no sense in attacking Dark Magician anymore. If you do, you'll wind up destroying your beloved, almighty dragon in the process. Destroying Witch's Apprentice won't do you any good either, because she's in defense mode. I won't lose any life points."  
  
"Who cares? By destroying Witch's Apprentice, I stop your Dark Magician from getting any stronger. At this point, to attack Witch's Apprentice is a more worthwhile move to make," countered Seto.  
  
"True, you do have a point there. But, my turn isn't over. Maybe's there's something in my deck I can use to end this here and now," said Ash as he drew a card. It turned out to be Reinforcements, which is exactly what Ash was looking for. "Well, this is it. The duel is over. I play Reinforcements, to increase my Dark Magician's attack strength by 700 points!" Ash announced. Seto couldn't help letting out a gasp of utter shock.  
  
ATK: 5200  
  
"What was all that you were saying? 'I won't win because you're the World Champion'. 'I can't win'. 'I'll emerge victorious in the end'. Look whose about to win, punk. Maybe next time you'll keep those stupid comments to yourself and stop demeaning your image. All right, Dark Magician, let's show this fucker what we can do! Destroy his worthless dragon with your Dark Magic Attack!" Ash commanded. The mighty mage drew his staff and shot out a large beam of powerful energy at the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.  
  
"I can't believe I loss... How could lose to an... to an amateur like him? How could let him beat me..." Seto's voice trailed off. He stared off into space as the attack plowed into one of the heads of the beasts and caused the head to explode. The monster roared out in pain.  
  
Seto's Life Points- 0  
  
The rest of the monster blew up into tons of pieces, since Seto had lost all his life points. Seto dropped to his knees, in disbelief, and shock. Ash grinned in satisfaction at the outcome of the duel. "Yeah!" he exclaimed while pushing his arm out, and pulling it back in rapidly. Powering down his system, the monsters dissappeared. Ash started to approach Seto, but he realized he was still stuck to the wall because of the chains. He snatched and yanked, and without warning, he broke the front end of the chains and his feet came out easily... Seto was still too spaced out to acknowledge what Ash had just did in front of him. He couldn't believe that a duelist from nowhere took him down. How could this happen to him? He was too great a duelist to be beaten by someone who isn't even on the map, who isn't even a blip on the radar. Ash approached Seto and extended his hand.  
  
"Cough up the three stars you wagered on the match," he ordered in an icy tone of voice. This snapped Seto out of his trance. He realized Ash was standing next to him and jumped.  
  
"What are you doing over here? How'd you get free?" he wondered in confusement.  
  
"That's none of your concern. The only concern you have with me is that I won three of your stars, so hand them over at once," Ash demanded. Seto knew he couldn't hold onto the stars. The security features Pegasus had installed into the stars made it so that Ash could have security forces track his stars down if he didn't willingly give them back.  
  
"Fine," Seto spoke, then reluctantly released three stars from his glove. He handed them to Ash, who smirked triumphantly. He gave Seto a long, deadly stare, then turned and headed for the exit of the cave. Seto didn't like this turn of events at all. He was going to have a rematch with Ash someday. And he was going to crush Ash in a stunning victory, or a humiliating defeat if you look at it from Ash's POV.  
  
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"Well, I guess we ship out tommorrow," said Joey, with a hint of dissappointment in his voice. "Man, I was hoping I could at least make into the main competition, but I didn't even make it off the island. I couldn't even beat Mai for you. (five seconds of silence) Anyways, I'm sad that you lost the only chance you had to save your sisters."  
  
"Thanks, I guess," Misty spoke softly. She looked down toward the ground, trying her hardest keep from crying.  
  
"I wish there was something I could do to help you out. I wish I knew where to get my hands on some money, or something. There's gotta be something I can do. You know, maybe we could go back and beat the crap outta the bitch whose asking you to pay in the first place."  
  
"That would only make her less cooperative, Joey. And besides, she has a Phased Energy Rifle. She could blow the shit out of us before we even get close enough to land a punch in her face," Misty told him. "I screwed up, and now... my sisters are gonna pay for it," she muttered. A small tear streaked down her face. "I'm supposed to be good at dueling, but instead, I lose the match that my sisters depended on me to win."  
  
Joey couldn't really think of any comforting things to say, other than the infamous: "It's gonna be all right. Everything will be fine."  
  
"How? I lost all my stars and lost the chance to win 100 million dollars in cash! There is no known cure for the plague, I don't have the money needed to pay the one person who could find the cure! I don't see how everything will turn out fine. They're gonna die..." she couldn't speak anymore. Grief and sorrow overwhelmed Misty and she began to cry. She fell down onto her knees, covered her face in her hands and began to sob and cry, obviously saddened, and hurt. Joey quickly kneeled down and embraced Misty, giving her a shoulder to cry on. She continued to cry. With each passing second, she cried harder and harder. Everything was starting to sink in on her. Her sisters were going to die, and there was nothing that could be done about it...  
  
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An explosion erupted on Geoff's side of the field, which caused the ground to rock a bit. Geoff shielded himself from the smoke and debris, hoping that Mai didn't ruin his plan. There was a good chance that she did, but did she? The smoke faded away, and only two hats remained on the field. No holograms appeared in the destroyed hat's space, which meant that Mai missed again. "All right! You attacked the wrong hat again, Mai!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Well, that sucks," Mai stated, a bit disgusted.  
  
Geoff picked up a card from his deck, which turned out to be Remove Trap. This could be used in two ways. If he use it to get rid of Gorgon's Eye, he could play monsters in defense mode freely whenever he needed to. But, Mai's Mirror Wall would still be in play, which would prevent him from attacking her when he got strong enough. If he used the card to destroy Mirror Wall, he still wouldn't be able to play monsters in defense mode, but he could attack her. In the long run, Mirror Wall would be a bigger problem.  
  
"Now I play Remove Trap, which I'll use to obliterate your Mirror Wall!" he announced.  
  
"Shit!" Mai cursed. The card activated, then Mirror Wall rose out of the ground and shattered into hundreds of crystal shards. Mai's monsters shielded themselves from the shards, and Mai frowned. "Well, this puts a dent in my strategy. It doesn't completely wreck it, but now that my monsters are open to attack, it's possible for them to be destroyed," Mai mused quietly to herself.  
  
"And now, I activate Lady Assailant of Flames' special ability. Since I have drawn three cards from my deck since she's been on the field, I can inflict 800 points of direct damage on your life points!" Geoff exclaimed. (Note: if this isn't how Lady Assailant of Flames really works, then consider this to be a slight alteration of rules Pegasus made in this alternate universe, okay?)  
  
"What?!" Mai was surprised. The Lady Assailant of Flames powered up a fireball and threw it at Mai. The ball connected with its target, and Mai began to scream.  
  
Mai's Life Points- 600  
  
"Allright! I'm winning again!" Geoff said with excitement in his voice. "And to finish my turn, I switch the Lady to defense mode."  
  
Mai snarled silently, then drew a card. She played it face-down, then pointed at Geoff's monster. "Harpie's Pet Dragon, blow her to smithreens!" she screamed. The monster spit out a breath of fire which smacked into Lady Assailant of Flames and obliterated her from the field.  
  
Geoff didn't lose any life points, thanks to his switching the monster to defense mode. He reached out and grabbed another card, grinning upon looking at it. It was Pot of Greed, which he used to draw two more cards. One of the cards turned out to be yet another Exodia piece. Just two more and he would automatically win the duel. The other card was Reborn the Monster. "All righty, I play this magic card Reborn the Monster, which I'll use to resurrect the Tri-Horn Dragon!" he announced. The magic card glowed, and the once deceased dragon slowly emerged out of the card and back onto the field.  
  
ATK: 2850 DEF: 2350  
  
"And with 2850 attack points, it can wipe out one of your Harpie Ladies, which will result in not only a deduction of your life points, but also a deduction of attack points from Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai didn't really seem that phased by this, strangely. "Tri-Horn Dragon, attack the Harpie Lady on the right!"  
  
Tri-Horn Dragon readied itself, then charged for the defenseless monster, its claws raised in the air and ready to strike. However, Mai had come prepared. "I'm not about to let that dragon destroy one of my Harpies. Activate magic card: Waboku!" Mai yeled while flipped up her trap card.  
  
Geoff's eyes bucked as Waboku reduced Tri-Horn Dragon's attack strength to 0. It slashed Mai's Harpie Lady three times, but not a single scratch was put on it. The attack strength returned to 2850 after Geoff's turn ended. "And now, Harpie's Pet Dragon, obliterate Tri-Horn Dragon!" Mai snapped. A huge blast of fire was hurled at the monster, and that was all it took to wipe out Tri-Horn Dragon from the field, permanently.  
  
Geoff's Life Points- 975  
  
"Ha! I took out your best monster twice, Geoff. That gives a big indication as to who will win the match, eh?" teased Mai. "You don't have anything else as powerful as Tri-Horn Dragon, and I've managed to wipe the floor with it twice. It's obvious that the winner of this duel will be me. And you know what that means. All those prizes you presented to me will soon be mine! Everything, from the diamond, to the Blue Eyes, to... you know what..." she eyed Geoff seductively. "Think a big guy like you can handle a little girl like me? I have a tendency to turn into a racous, wild, bitch when in the bed. Some say I'm too wild, others say I drive the stick too hard... think you're up to the challenge, Geoff?"  
  
Geoff didn't respond to her question. Instead he reached over and drew a card. Another Exodia piece found its way into his hand. He grinned at this. Because of the way he structured his deck, when he cut it just right, he can the Exodia pieces easily. All he had to do now was hold out for a few more turns, and it would be all over. Picking up yet another monster card from his hand, he placed it onto a card slot. "I summon the Curse of Dragon, in defense mode!" he stated, and within a few moments, Curse of Dragon appeared on the field, screeching.  
  
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1500  
  
"Ah, ah, ah, Geoff. You must've forgotten that my Gorgon's Eye is still on the field," Mai reminded him. "Now that you've played the monster in defense mode, my trap card will activate and turn it into stone." True to Mai's word, the Gorgon's Eye activated. It raised out of its holocard, and stared at Curse of Dragon. A few rays of light shined out from the eye, and Curse of Dragon suddenly turned into a stone monster. "And now, for a change of pace, Harpie Ladies, attack Curse of Dragon!" she ordered.  
  
The three sisters all charged their powers, forming a yellow triangle. The infamous giant X emerged from the center of the triangle and was fired at the dragon. It pierced through the torso of the monster and shattered into bits and pieces. Half of the monster's defense points was deducted from Geoff's Life Points.  
  
Geoff's Life Points- 225  
  
"Now I've taken the lead again!" exclaimed Mai with a gleeful tone of voice.  
  
Geoff frowned at this, then slowly reached out to draw a card. [It all comes down to this. Just one card will determine the entire outcome of the duel. If I draw the wrong card, Mai will exterminate my Exodia piece on the field, then exterminate me and knock me right out of the competition. I'll lose all my stars, plus a rare diamond, my Blue Eyes White Dragon. And Misty and Joey's stars will still be hers. If I get the right card, then I'll win the match, and I'll win Misty and Joey's stars back! I have to draw the last Exodia piece. I just have to! Misty and Joey are depending on it, and so am I!] he thought to himself. He shut his eyes closed, then reached out and drew the card. Pulling it to his face, he slowly opened his eyes to see what he got. [Please be Exodia. Please be Exodia. Please be Exodia,] pulsed through his mind. He looked at his card... and it was... Exodia!  
  
"Well, Mai, I have to say, you put a real good fight. This was one of the most challenging, and best duels I've had in a long time. I thank you for that," he started. Mai seemed a bit flattered. "But, it's time for the duel to come to an end. You dueled great Mai, and you played the game fair and square. You didn't try to cheat like some duelists do, and I respect that. I'm glad you gave me a fair, hard, and challenging duel. This is the first time I actually had to use my head in a duel in what seemed like forever. But, now it ends."  
  
"Yeah, I know, you can't stop me."  
  
"Wanna bet? I can stop you, and I will; I'll show you. First, I flip the face-down card on my field face-up, and then I play, all the cards in my hand," Geoff said, then placed all the Exodia pieces in the correct positions on the card reader. All of the sudden, the ground began to shake and rumbling could be heard.  
  
"Wha... wh.. what's going on?" inquired Mai. A tiny bit of fear began to creep onto Mai's face. The shaking began to intensify, as green light formed in the middle of Geoff's field. All of the pieces began to come together, slowly, but surely. The rumbling and shaking intensified even more. "Geoff, what's going on?!" Mai asked him.  
  
"Do you really wanna ruin the surprise?" Geoff returned. A brilliant green light shone all over the field, engulfing all the monsters, and even Geoff and Mai themselves. The shaking continued to get more and more intense as time went on. The pieces from the cards merged together into... Exodia. "It's the god of the game, Mai Valentine! The one that cannot be stopped. The one whose might surpasses that of all others! The one who makes the strongest monsters, even the legendary God Cards such as Slifer the Sky Dragon, quake in their boots. Mai, prepare to meet... Exodia!" Geoff announced  
  
"Ahh!! Exodia! How the hell did you manage to summon him?!!" Mai screamed. She stared at the scary looking monster, who stared right back at her with ominous eyes. Mai's monsters began to quiver upon looking at Exodia. The brilliant light faded away, and the shaking soon came to an end.  
  
"Sayonara, Mai Valentine. Exodia... Obliterate!!!" Geoff hollered out. Exodia charged a huge, yellow ball of raw energy in his enormous hands. The charge grew bigger and bigger, until it covered almost all of the god's chest. It let out a ominous, terrifying laugh before unleashed the beam of the destruction. The Harpie Ladies and the pet shrieked in fear as the beam headed toward them. It wiped them all out in a single blow, and the beam was so powerful that it left a radius of raw destruction in its path. Mai couldn't believe what she had just seen. Exodia... it utterly wiped out every last monster and trap she had on the field, and it did it with ease. It was over... just like that. Almost in the blink of an eye...  
  
Mai's Life Points- 0 | Geoff's Life Points- 225  
  
Both of their systems automatically powered down. "Whoo!!" Geoff whooped with excitement. "I won! I won! Yahoo!" he jumped around for awhile, joy and happiness spreading across his face. It was tough, it was hard, but he beat her, and he won back Joey and Misty's stars. Now, they was back in the game. After dancing for a little while, Geoff finally calmed down, collected himself, and walked over to Mai, who was wondering what she did wrong in the duel. She looked a bit sad, and dejected because she lost. Upon Geoff's movement toward her, she looked up, and sighed.  
  
"Well, it's over now. You won, fair and square," she started. Geoff could tell there was a hint of dissappointment in her voice. She ejected fifteen stars (nine were Misty's, six belonged to Joey) and handed them to him. "Fifteen stars, all yours. Congratulations," she told him.  
  
"Uh... thanks, I guess," Geoff smiled and dropped the stars in his pants pocket.  
  
"Now, go away," Mai told him, then started walking back toward her tint. She was a bit sad that she lost the duel. She didn't care about giving back the stars. That was the least of her concerns. She was really looking forward to winning the diamond, and getting some hot, ronchy action. The Blue Eyes White Dragon would've been a nice compliment to the other rewards. Unfortunately, she wasn't good enough to defeat him. He was one of the best duelists in the world, though, so it wasn't really surprising.  
  
"Hey, Mai," Geoff called, startling her slightly. She turned around to face him. "You know, if you're sad about losing the duel, you shouldn't be. Everyone loses once in a while, even me. Just think: you came really close to beating one of the best duelists in the world, and that's something, right? I mean, I only had 225 life points left. You dueled great," he told her.  
  
"That's nice, Geoff," she replied softly.  
  
Geoff reached into the bag he had sat on the ground and grabbed the diamond, then reached out toward her. "Here, take it. I guess you could think of it as a reward for giving me a good, clean fight, and a nice challenge. It was the first time I really had to think carefully about my moves since, like, forever. Also..." his voice trailed off.  
  
Mai took the diamond from him and smiled. "Also, what?"  
  
"If you want, we could still get it on," he spoke in a seductive tone of voice.  
  
Mai grinned seductively, then the two began to kiss. They kissed each other racously, then stumbled off into the tint. Still kissing Geoff, Mai zipped the tint close. They began taking each other's clothes off, their kissing getting more and more intense by the second. Mai began to moan passionately as Geoff pulled her top over her head. She snatched her brau off, then ripped Geoff's shirt out of him. They fell back onto the ground, kissing each other more ravenously than before (Mai's on top of Geoff). Geoff's kicked his shoes off and began unzipping his pants. He allowed Mai to pulled them off, then he yanked Mai's mini-skirt off her body as fast as possible. Mai's sandals fell of her feet as the two rolled over, putting Geoff on top of Mai. She ripped his boxer shorts off of him, and allowed him to yank her panties off, which he proceeded to do. Geoff and Mai moaned passionately as they continued kissing...  
  
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Down at the medical center on the shores of Emerald Island, Tristan sat in the waiting area, lost in thought. He was unaware that Surge was watching him from a distance. Tristan was trying to figure out what happened to Brock. He didn't really have a clue, since Brock hadn't never said anything about him having a medical condition. Brock had never acted like he had a medical condition. He seemed like he was just fine. He was talking, laughing, eating, and everything else, just like a person who had a clean bill of health. Now he was having this serious seizure. What happened to him? Could it be the beginning of somekind of terrible disease? Tristan looked as if he was zoning out to a passerby; he was deep in thought.  
  
"Excuse me, uh..." a voice spoke. Tristan looked up to see a female doctor standing near him. He quickly jumped up out of the chair.  
  
"Yes, ma'am?"  
  
"Could you give me somekind of name, please?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, right. Name's Tristan Taylor," he responded.  
  
"I'm Dr. Stevenson."  
  
"I'm assuming you have something to tell me about Brock, the teenage boy who was having the seizures?"  
  
"Uh, yes."  
  
"Do you know what's wrong with him?" inquired Tristan.  
  
"Unfortunately, no, we don't. We managed to stop him from convulsing, and afterwards, we began to run some tests. The results do not give us any indication of what could be wrong with him. You see, the test results are... erratic. They don't make any sense at all. We're running more extensive tests on him right now, and hopefully they'll yield some better results. Until the, the best thing to do is to sit tight and try not to worry about it too much," the doctor advised. Afterwards, she turned and walked away from Tristan, who was just standing there. What could possibly be wrong with him? Would he live?  
  
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***|Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500|***  
  
I'll say this once again, I am very sorry for the nearly two month long wait. Due to the craziness of my life, I can't really know when I'll have the next episode up, but I'm hoping it'll be a lot sooner than this time around. I appreciate any reader of this book that waited on me to update this episode, that's for sure. I've already pre-read the episode, but I was really tired when I did, so please forgive me if there are any grammar typos in the episode. I'll re-read through it again and edit them out if there are any. Anyways, I've gotta go. Thanks a lot for reading, and I hoped you like it! Give me some pretty detailed feedback, please! 


	16. Episode 16, 'The Winds of Change Are Blo...

Yeah, I know, this episode got a pretty weird name, but it does makes sense with what shall be coming a bit later, which is why I chose the name. I'm thinking about changing the title name for this fic. 'Duelists of The Future' just doesn't sound that great to me. It was always a tentative title, anyway. I don't know what I'm going to change the title too; I'm thinking of possible title ideas. Since it is an altenate universe fic, I'm thinking about renaming it to 'A New Reality' or something similar to that. It is a more fitting title that 'Duelists of the Future' by far. The main tournament is finally about to begin! Not in this episode, though, but it is getting close! Well, let's get this started!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own characters from Yu-gi-oh, Cardcaptors or Pokemon. I'm simply borrowing them for my fanfic. These cartoons belong to 4 Kids Entertainment, Kids Wb, and whoever else.  
  
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Duelists of The Future - Season 1 - Episode 16, 'The Winds of Change Are Blowing' (8/1/2003)  
  
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It was 21:35 hours, and the sky had darkened to a dark, midnight blue like color. Stars illuminated the sky radiantly, and cricket chirps rung throughout the entire island, giving it a peaceful, serene, and quiet feel. Most duelists had retreated into their campsites for the night, but there were still a few wandering around, gazing at the sights. At Mai's camp, Geoff and Mai were inside her tint, laying beside each other naked (there is cover over them, in case you're wondering). It had been a sexy, ravenous evening for both of them, and after hours was constant, non-stop action, the two had finally tired out.  
  
"So... was it.. good?" asked Geoff between breaths.  
  
Mai nodded in response to his question. "Yeah... it was great. Some of the best sex I ever had, and definitely a memorable night," she replied, taking in breaths of air herself.  
  
"Same here, the sex was really great," added Geoff. "I didn't know you had that much strength. I mean, the way you were moving... it was incredible! You know, I've never had a woman give it to me that way before. It was fast, intense, raucous, hot, good action."  
  
"I appreciate the compliment," Mai said.  
  
"Well, uh, I need to go turn in. I've got a big day ahead of me tommorrow," Geoff spoke with a bit of reluctantless in his voice. He slowly began to sit up, looking around for his clothes in the process.  
  
"Do you have to go now? I was kinda hoping we could lay up and talk to each other, maybe get to know each other more. After all, you seem like a nice guy."  
  
Geoff smiled, a bit flattered. "I appreciate the compliment," he spoke, making a smile spread across Mai's face. "Anyway, if I didn't have things to do, I would gladly stay, but I've gotta run, unfortunately. Perhaps we can catch up with each other another time," Geoff offered, and Mai smirked.  
  
"Count me in," she then winked at Geoff, who grinned afterwards.  
  
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The next morning, down at Misty's camp, Misty and Joey were inside her tint, laying beside each other. Both were fast asleep. Misty had been crying uncontrollably all last night, and Joey had to stay there and try comforting her. It didn't really stop her from crying, but Joey didn't want to leave the distraught girl all alone, so he sat up with her all night, trying to encourage her that everything would work out. She eventually cried herself to sleep with her head resting on his abdomen, and not long afterwards, he fell off into dreamland himself. Misty slowly began to stir. Her eyes opened slowly as she rose up into a sitting position. She sighed heavily as she started crawling her way out of the tint. Opening it up, she covered her eyes to block the sun's blinding light. She crawled out of the tint, then got to her feet. That's when she noticed something. There was a small, white bag sitting on the ground outside of her tint. A note was attached to the bag. She stooped down and opened the bag, and was surprised to see fifteen stars and three cards sitting inside.  
  
The note read: iTo Misty and Joey... From beloved friend, Geoff Okasinski... You guys are not out of the tournament. Inside this bag you'll find fifteen stars. I believe nine of them belonged to you, Misty, and six of them belonged to Joey. I located Mai Valentine and, after a lot of persuasion, she agreed to duel me. If I won, she would give me the fifteen stars and Joey's three cards. It wasn't easy, I'll admit, but I beat her and earned back the stars. Now, I know what you're thinking. So what if I earned the stars? You can't use them anyway. Once a duelist loses all their stars in the tournament, they are not allowed to engage in duels anymore. I won the stars, which means they are mine. Even if I gave them to you, they would still be registered under my name, because I won them, not you. Not to worry: I did a little hacking with each star, accessed the security features, and changed the owners of the stars from me, to you and Joey, meaning you're back! I told you I could beat her, Misty, but nooo, you wouldn't believe me. Anyway, best of luck in the tournament, both of you./i  
  
Misty's eyes widened in shock. She couldn't believe what she was seeing... Geoff won the stars back? When did this happen? Now that he had won the stars, hacked into their mainframe and made them the owners of the stars, her and Joey were back in the game again! They wouldn't be leaving today! Misty immediately crawled back inside the tint, with the bag in tow. She began shaking Joey vigorously.  
  
"Joey! Joey! Joey, wake up! I have something to show you! Wake up!" Misty yelled while shaking him, but he wouldn't stir. Misty couldn't help but look dumbfounded. She had forgotten just how deeply Joey sleeps. When they used to have sleepovers, it was hard to wake him up, but she remebered how she could get him to wake up almost instantly. Pulling up his shirt, she began to tickle Joey's abdomen furiously. Within a few moments, he was awake.  
  
"Hey, hey, cut that out!" he exclaimed while laughing.  
  
"Joey, look!" Misty then presented to him the bag.  
  
"Look at what?" mused Joey.  
  
"Look inside the bag," Misty told him.  
  
"This is what you woke me up for, to look inside a bag? I'm goin' back to sleep," he said in a sleepy tone of voice. He rubbed his eyes, then started to lay back down.  
  
"Joey! Just look in the bag, okay? You'll be surprised, trust me."  
  
He looked at her skeptically. "Fine, okay," Joey took the bag from Misty and looked inside it. His eyes also began to widen. "There's stars in here! And... my Duel Monsters are here too!"  
  
"I know! Geoff won them, and he gave them to us! He did a little hacking into the stars to change the owners of the stars from him to us! Do you realized what this means, Joey?!" Misty asked.  
  
Joey looked up at her, a huge smile on his face. "We're back in the game! And now you have another chance at the 100 million dollars! There is hope for your sisters!" he exclaimed.  
  
"I'll have to give Geoff a huge 'thank you' the next time I see him."  
  
After freshening themselves up and completing their morning necessites, the two dumped the stars out of the bag. Small stickers were attached to each star, and the sticker had the first initial of their names on it. The stars that had a 'J' on it were Joey's, and the stars with a 'M' on it were Misty's. They collected the stars which belonged to them, pulled the stickers off, and inserted them into their dueling gloves. They looked at each other with huge smiles on their face. "We're back!"  
  
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Tristan was still in the waiting room of the medical facility. He had fallen asleep in the chair overnight. The doctors were still trying to figuring out what was happening to Brock, and if they could stop whatever it was. So far, they hadn't made any progress in figuring out his condition. They had been on the case all night, but to no avail. One of the doctors decided to go tell Tristan the news. He approached the sleeping teenager, kneeling down beside the chair. "Uh, Tristan Taylor?" he called while shaking. It didn't take long for Tristan to start stirring.  
  
"Oh..." he groaned sleepily as his eyes opened. He was staring in the face of a man. Confused, he started straightening up his position. Tristan realized that it was a doctor, and that he was still in the medical facility, then quickly deduced that he must've fallen asleep overnight.  
  
"Tristan Taylor? I'm Dr. Andrews and I'm here to fill you in on the condition of a Brock Mowry. That's his name, correct?"  
  
"Uh, yeah, you're correct. Is he all right?" asked Tristan, but the doctor shook his head.  
  
"Unfortunately, no, he isn't. He's slipped off into a deep sleep, a coma, basically. We've been trying to find out his medical condition since you brought him in sometime yesterday, but we haven't gotten much progress. We ran several tests, but they are showing the weirdest things I've ever seen in all my years as a doctor," he spoke.  
  
"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him, using the information you've gotten from the test results?"  
  
Dr. Andrews cleared his throat. "Well, the test results indicates that he's.... mutating somehow," he announced, and Tristan's eyes bucked.  
  
"Mutating? What do you mean, mutating? He can't mutate."  
  
"Well, that's exactly what his body seems to be doing. In just a few hours, the insides of his body has changed tremendously. Several organs has merged together, becoming one, some have relocated. There are also some strange, new organs that seem to be growing inside him. It's really weird, and we're surprised the boy is still alive after what's been happening to him."  
  
"Can you do anything?" Tristan inquired.  
  
"We are trying all that we can, sir. I have the best doctors here working on it, right now. I'll get back in touch with you in a few hours to tell you the latest news, okay?"  
  
Tristan nodded slowly, still in shock from what he just heard. Dr. Andrews walked away, leaving Tristan to his thoughts. What was wrong with Brock? How on earth could he be... mutating? How was it possible? He was growing new organs and stuff, and others were merging together. What kind of disease did he have? Was it a disaease, or was the mutating the side effect of being exposed to some kind of harmful substance, such as radiation, or mustard gas? Maybe some kind of poisons like cyanide mixed with uranium was doing this to him? It wasn't natural, and he was certain of that. Is it possible that someone infected him with some strange, deadly chemical? Who would do such a thing and why? Brock didn't have any enemies, as far as Tristan knew. He was a nice guy, he never started strife with anyone, and he was easy to get along with. Who would infect him with a deadly chemical? Maybe it was... Tristan's eyes widened as realization hit him like a bolt of lightning striking the ground. It had to be none other than Surge Crusher. Surge might've did this to give him some form of punishment for not giving him the Egyptian God Cards he possessed.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
Tristan picked up Surge and threw him onto the counter. Surge fell onto the dishes, which made them fall onto the floor with him and break. Surge slowly got up, and looked at Tristan. Both of them were full of bruises and breathing heavily. (This is from Episode 06)  
  
"This isn't over, Tristan, I will be back!" Surge said and darted out of the back door.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
He came back once, trying to take his cards from him with brute force. That didn't work out to well, though, and it was Brock that rescued him from drowning in the lake. Maybe this was Surge's revenge. He probably infected Brock with some kind of lethal chemical that caused him to start mutating. He was going to pay... Tristan got out of the chair and headed toward the exit of the medical facility. He was positive that Surge was behind this, and he wasn't going to rest until he had put the fucker in the ground.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
It was now a week later. The Sub-Competition was winding down more and more, with eaching passing day. There weren't many duelists left, and most duelists who remained had enough stars to register into the main championship, therefore making them contestants. At the Central Palace on the Crystal Kingdom island, Pegasus had been spending the last week researching the Millenium Key, and torturing Morty. Even with the Enhanced Voodoo Doll, he wasn't getting any results from him. Pegasus was beginning to get absolutely fed up with Morty. He just wouldn't give him the key! Pegasus was not about to let some blonde dick stop him resurrecting his true love. He was currently in the middle of a frivilous torturing session with Morty. Using the magic of the Enhanced Voodoo Doll, he turned Morty's blood into lava, and made his heart pump it out. He made him throw up huge blue whales. Morty was screaming out in sheer pain.  
  
"Now, listen up, punk, I can make it go away. I can stop all the hurt, all the pain, all the torture and abuse. I can set you free and let you go on living your life. All you have to do is hand me the Millenium Key. Let me have it, and I'll end it all and release you," Pegasus offered. He stopped the magic transmission in order to let Morty speak. The pain abruptly ended, and Morty slowly began to collect himself. The pain of the Voodoo Doll was excruiating, and it easily disorients one who experiences it. He breathed deeply for a while, then looked up at Pegasus.  
  
He started to speak, but it was slow, and his voice was weak and somewhat raspy. "I... won't give you a thing, you sissy," he stated.  
  
"Arrggh!!!!" Pegasus hollered in frustration while grabbing his hair and his forehead. He began to shake his head vigorously. "What does it take?!!!" he suddenly punched Morty across the face. "I've tried everything: hot grease, cutting, magic tricks, the Voodoo Dolls! I'm running out of patience!! What the fuck does it take to get this damn key?!!!" Pegasus yelled in frustration. He punched Morty in the face again, then punched another time. He hit him in the nose, then whacked him across the face again, angrily.  
  
"I won't waste my time doing this, forever, Morty. Since I'm not getting anywhere, I might as well go ahead and kill you! That might the secret to getting it off your neck! Sure, there's that risk that it might still cling to you even if you're dead, but I'm not getting the results I want anyway, so what do I have to lose?"  
  
"The secret," Morty answered calmly. "Kill me, and you'll never find out how to get it."  
  
"I haven't found it out, yet! You haven't told me anything, and you simply refuse to speak up! So I don't have anything to lose! You're alive, and I'm not getting anywhere! You might as well be dead!" Pegasus reared back and punched Morty again. His lip began to bleed a little as he grunted upon getting hit. "This isn't over, bitch. I've some other important issues to address as of now, but I'll be back. And when I do, I'd better get what I want from you, or else... it's lights out for you, Morty-boy," Pegasus threated, then walked out of the cell.  
  
Moments later, he arrived at his bedroom. Walking inside, he slammed the door behind him and sat on the plush bed. What was he going to do? That bastard downstairs wouldn't give in to anything. It's almost as if he had no breaking point. What would it take to make him give up his Millenium Item? Pegasus sighed dejectedly, then decided to check on the status of the Sub-Competition, something he had been forgetting to do as of late. He got off the bed. Walking over to a sleek, desktop computer, Pegasus took a seat on a chair in front of the computer. He turned the computer on, then began to access his files. He located the folder which consisted of files related to the tournament. He accessed it, then began skimming through them. He clicked on the latest tournament update and began to read the file. Most duelists had earned their fifteen stars and registered. There were still a few left trying to complete that feat, but there weren't many.  
  
"Hmm... it seems as if the Sub-Competition is winding down faster than I thought it would. It won't be long before the main tournament begins," he mused quietly.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
"A lot of time has passed by, and I still haven't gotten my fuckin' cards from that motherfucker yet. But, before this tournament comes to an end, I'll have 'em," said Surge. Him, Vicki, and Jason were walking through the forests of the island. Since Surge failed to retrieve the God Cards from Tristan as quick as he thought he would, he decided to start winning stars so he could proceed to the main shindig, and keep up with Tristan. "Mark my words, before the end, I'll have Slifer the Sky Dragon back in my hands, and Obelisk the Tormentor will also be mine!"  
  
"So, how do you plan to get the cards? So far, nothing you've tried worked," chimed Jason.  
  
"I'll get the motherfuckin' cards, I promise you that."  
  
"But how will you get them? I hope you're not gonna try assaulting him again, because that gets you nothing but bruises," Jason spoke. "You see, in order to succeed with something like this, you gotta be cunning. You gotta use your head. You gotta figure out Tristan's weak spots, and use them to your advantage."  
  
"Weak spots? And these weak spots would be..." Surge trailed off in order to let Jason finish.  
  
"That's what you have to figure out, Surge, I don't know!" Jason admitted.  
  
"I'll think about it later. Right now, I need to hurry up and collect some more stars. It won't be long before we're off to the Crystal Kingdom." Surge walked off in search of more duelists, with Jason And Vicki following him.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Sakura handed over her fifteen stars to a man in a black suit. The man started typing on a computer keyboard. He was verifying Sakura's success and entering her into the main tournament. After a few moments passed, he pressed one last key, then looked up at Sakura calmly. "Congratulations, ma'am, you have successfully passed the test required. You are officially a contestant in the tournament."  
  
"Thank you," she spoke softly, then turned and walked away, heading back to her campsite. In just a few days she would be meeting up with her old lover. She would find out if that skank-bitch had him drugged up, or if it was something he willingly did on his own. Sakura wanted to believe that Cecilia drugged him, but she knew it was possible that he cheated on her with Cecilia without the aid of a drug. She hoped for the latter...  
  
"Hi, Sakura!" someone called her. She looked around, and her eyes rested on Li, who was walking toward her. He waved at her, and she waved back.  
  
"Li, hey," she returned. "How are you doing?"  
  
"Oh, I'm great. And you?" he asked while approaching her. The two then began to walk side by side.  
  
"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Sakura replied.  
  
"Well, that's good. So, have you won enough stars to enter the real tournament yet? I would hope so," he said.  
  
"Yeah, I have. I just got done being verified," she told him.  
  
Li smiled and said, "That's great! Congratulations!"  
  
"Thanks again. I couldn't have done it if you hadn't taken time to give me a few pointers. The duelists I faced were easy, inexperienced duelists like me, though. What about you, did you make it?"  
  
"You bet I made it! I think the cruise ship is supposed to be picking us up to take us to Crystal Kingdom sometime this week. Isn't this exciting, though? We made it into the championship!"  
  
"Yeah, it is. I wonder how good we're gonna do... I wonder how tough the other duelists are gonna be?"  
  
"Well, they're gonna be pretty good. I mean, all the duelists that made it must be pretty good. There will be nothing but serious duelists in the main competition, though. I wonder just how good they are? Ah, they couldn't be better than me. I'm one of the best duelists!"  
  
"Uh, Li, could I ask a favor?" Sakura spoke softly. Li looked over at her, a bit curious as to what she wanted to ask.  
  
"Yeah, shoot."  
  
"Could you help prepare me? I mean, I have a little knowledge of Duel Monsters now, but it still won't be enough to help me win the tournament. I appreciate the few pointers you gave me, and I was wondering if you could continue training me for a little awhile. Please, Li, could you?" she inquired.  
  
Li pondered this for a moment, then sighed. "Well.... I guess I can. It's not like I'm really doing anything," he replied.  
  
"Oh, thank you, Li! Thank you," Sakura said, relief and happiness in her voice. "For a moment there, I thought you were gonna say no."  
  
"So, when do you wanna get started?"  
  
"Would now be a good time?"  
  
"Yeah, now is fine. C'mon, let's go back to your campsite," Li suggested, and the two headed that way, discussing Duel Monsters along the way.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Tristan had been searching for Surge all week long, but didn't have any luck in finding him. He was now on his way to the medical center to see how Brock was doing. Tristan was positive that Surge had something to do with Brock's condition. It all made sense. Surge seemed like the type of guy to do something like this in order to get Tristan's cooperation. But, there was one factor that seemed kinda weird. Surge wouldn't be hiding the fact that he did it. He would find Tristan and tell it to his face, so that Tristan would give up the God Cards. Tristan wouldn't have to look for him, because he'd find him first. Maybe Surge was using a different tactic. Tristan eventually arrived at the medical center. Walking inside, he immediately began searching for Dr. Andrews. He found him after a few minutes of looking.  
  
"Dr. Andrews?"  
  
"Hello, Tristan," Dr. Andrews returned the greeting with a small smile on his face.  
  
"Um, I here to ask you about Brock Mowry's status. How is he doing?"  
  
Before Dr. Andrews could respond, another doctor suddenly appeared. Running up to Dr. Andrews, he stated, "The boy's awake! Doctor, the boy, he's awake!"  
  
"Awake? Impossible," Dr. Andrews mused as he headed toward the room, Tristan following. Arriving at the room, they walked inside. A few doctors were around the bed, and Brock was lying there, his eyes opened slightly. He moaned as he started looking around in confusement. "When did he wake up?" Dr. Andrews asked while approaching another doctor.  
  
"Just a few seconds ago, sir," she replied. Dr. Andrews pulled out a scanning device and began to scan Brock. His vitals were functioning, although they were functioning in a weird fashion. His pulse was a little stronger than before. The organs were still out of place and such. Brock started to sit up, but the doctors gently pushed him back down.  
  
"No, sir, you need to lie back and rest," one of the doctors told him.  
  
"But... I.. need to see Tristan..." he muttered. His speech was somewhat slurred, but they could still interpret what he was saying with ease. Tristan approached the bed, kneeling down beside it.  
  
"Brock? Brock, I'm here," he told him, smiling slightly. Brock looked over at Tristan; his lips formed into a little smirk.  
  
"How... how did I... get here?" he asked him.  
  
"You uh, you started convulsing, and I rushed you to a hospital," Tristan explained.  
  
"How long... was I asleep?"  
  
"You were out for a week," Tristan replied.  
  
"Okay, sir, we're gonna have to ask you to step out for about ten minutes while we run some more tests. After we're finished, we'll allow you to visit him for about thirty minutes, all right?" Dr. Andrews said.  
  
"Yeah, okay," Tristan answered while getting to his feet. He looked down at Brock and said, "I have to leave, but I'll be back, all right, Brock? The doctors need to examine you some more, and I can come back when their through," he told him, then turned and started walking out of the room.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Misty and Joey spent the entire week winning stars as fast as they could to get into the tournament in time. They noticed that there were much less duelists with stars. Most duelists had turned their stars into the administrators, therefore getting into the main competition. The two walked side by side, on the lookout for duelists. Misty looked down at her dueling glove with satisfaction. "Wow.... I can't believe I finally won the fifteen stars needed."  
  
"Well, believe it, because you did it," Joey said in his usual, cheery manner. "I'm only three stars away from gettin' into the main tournament. I just need to find one more duelist and get three stars from them, then I'm set!"  
  
"I know. Every day it gets harder and harder to actually find someone with stars. Most duelists around here don't even wear dueling gloves anymore, because they've achieved the goal. They're simply waiting until its time to go. Well, I should head down to the shore so I can turn in these stars to the administrators. Good luck, Joey. And one more thing: Don't lose," she warned him sternly, then ran off.  
  
"I won't!" Joey yelled after her, then went on to mutter, "I know what I'm doing."  
  
Joey walked casually through the grass plains, glancing down the dueling glove. All he needed were three more stars. Just three more, and he was tournament bound! Joey couldn't believe that he had gotten this far. He never expected to get this close to getting into the real tournament. But, here he was, doing what he firmly thought he couldn't. He only wished he could show Yugi just how much he had progressed... Speaking of which, where was Yugi? He hadn't heard from him in a long time. Where did he dissappear to? Joey had been so busy rushing to earn the fifteen stars that he hadn't thought much about Yugi, until now. Where was his little buddy?  
  
"Hey, Joey!" a voice called. Joey saw Yugi approaching him in the distance, then sighed a sigh of relief.  
  
"I shoulda known nothing had happened," he spoke to himself.  
  
"How are you?" asked Yugi as he approached Joey, panting slightly.  
  
"I'm good, very good. In fact, I'm on my way to gettin' into the tournament! Can you believe it Yugi?" Joey exclaimed in joy, then showed his dueling glove to Yugi. Yugi observed the glove, quickly taking note of the twelve stars sitting inside.  
  
"Joey, you have twelve stars, that's great!" he returned while smiling. "Just three more stars and you're ready to set your sights on the real competition! I knew you could do it," he said.  
  
"So, Yugi, are you in yet? Have you earned enough stars?"  
  
"Yeah, I've been taking it easy for about four days now. I won all the fifteen stars neccessary long ago," Yugi replied.  
  
"Well, that's good..." while Joey was speaking, another voice of a masculine nature interrupted him.  
  
"Hey, dork! I want a rematch!" it shouted. Both Yugi and Joey turned, and their eyes rested on Devon (remeber him from Episode 08?). Joey gasped slightly, a tad bit surprised.  
  
"Devon? What the heck are you doin' here? I thought you'd be gone home by now! But, you're still in the tournament, surprisingly."  
  
"You shouldn't be too surprised that an excellent duelist like myself is still in this thing! I'm surprised that you're still walking around here! Guess you got some help by crushing toddlers, hunh?"  
  
"Hell no! I beat some of the fiercest, toughest duelists around here!"  
  
Devon burst into laughter. "You expect me to believe that? You couldn't win a duel if your sorry life depended on it, punk!" he remarked.  
  
"I don't expect you to believe anything, and I don't give a damn about what you believe! What you think don't mean shit!" Joey returned.  
  
"Oh no, see now, you've just cussed at the wrong guy. I only need a few more stars to get into the tournament, and I'm gonna get them from you!" he yelled while pointing at Joey.  
  
"Dream on. When we get through, I'm gonna be the victor, and you... well, you'll still be a big heap of horse shit like your are now," Joey laughed afterwards.  
  
Devon growled in anger. "You're gonna pay, you ass! Mark my words, when this duel is over, I'm gonna be the winner, not you! Whip out your dueling device, and let's get it on!"  
  
"As you wish," Joey retorted while grabbing his fiery red portable dueling console. Strapping it on, he watched Devon strap his on, then they powered them up. "Time to duel!" shouted Joey.  
  
"You're gonna lose!" yelled back Devon.  
  
***** Joey: 2000 LP | Devon: 2000 LP *****  
  
The duel had started. Both duelists drew their first five cards, forming their hands. Devon got the first move. Looking over his cards, he started to think on the best course of action, then started to pull up a card. "I'll play this one monster card, face-down," he said while doing so. Within a few moments, a holographic face-down card appeared in front of him.  
  
It was now Joey's turn to move. He wondered what Devon could've been hiding under the face-down card, but he wasn't about to be intimidated by the card. He pulled up three cards, then started to place them on the card slots. "Two cards face-down (in magic/trap zone), and one monster card in attack mode!" Joey yelled. The three cards appeared on the field, and the monster was Flame Swordsman.  
  
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1600  
  
"Attack Devon's face-down monster with Flaming Sword of Battle!" Joey commanded. The monster lunged toward the card while flames started to eminate on the sword. He reared back and sliced through the card, setting it on fire. The card burst into the pieces, and the monster turned out to be a Mystical Elf.  
  
"Hahaha, you fell into my trap, fool! Mystical Elf's defense power is 2000, and your puny swordsman only has an attack power of 1800. You lose 200 life points!" he announced.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 1800  
  
"Damn," Joey muttered to himself.  
  
"Now its my turn to move again," Devon said while drawing a card from his deck. He pulled two cards out of his hand. "I'll throw another monster onto the field, in defense mode, and I'll put down two face-down cards," he spoke while applying the cards to the console. The cards materialized onto the field in front of him, and the new monster was a Cannon Soldier.  
  
ATK: 400 DEF: 1300  
  
"Go ahead, ass, make your next move."  
  
[I was expecting Devon to sacrifice his Mystical Elf to power up his Cannon Soldier, then order it to attack my life points directly! That's the logical thing any duelist would do. Guess Devon is still as airheaded and dense as ever,] Joey thought to himself. "Ha, I'm gonna take advantage of your stupidity and wipe that Cannon Soldier off the field! Flame Swordsman, attack it, now!" Joey snapped. The swordsman charged for the purple robot, ready for action. The sword was engulfed by fire, and Joey's monster prepared to strike Cannon Soldier full force.  
  
"Not so fast! I'm invoking the magic of Mirror Force!" Devon shouted as he activated his card. A magical barrier appeared around Cannon Soldier, and when the swordsman's flames struck, it began to reverse the attack right back into it.  
  
"Good try, but I also have a Mirror Force out on the field, and I'll invoke its powers now!" Joey announced while activating the magic card. As the flames headed back toward the Flame Swordsman, another magical barrier appeared around Joey's monster, ready to repel the flames back at Cannon Soldier.  
  
"(imitates Joey) Good try (stops imitaiting), but I figured you might have something like that waiting, so I'll activate my other face-down card, Magic Jammer!" Devon stated.  
  
"What?!" Joey was surprised. Devon discarded one card from his hand, and in turn, Joey's magic card, and the magic barrier shattered into pieces, leaving Flame Swordsman wide open to attack. The flames engulfed the swordsman and set him on fire, causing him to scream out in pain before bursting into pieces himself. "No! My swordsman!"  
  
"Is toast, to put it simply," Devon smirked. "You're gonna learn yet that I am not a pushover. When this duel is over, I'll be the winner, and you'll be the loser," he said, then pulled a card from the top of his deck. He looked at it, and his smirk grew bigger. "Just what I needed. I'll play this magic card, Rush Recklessly, to increase the attack and defense power of my Cannon Soldier by 700 points!"  
  
ATK: 1100 DEF: 2000  
  
"And now, I'm gonna sacrifice my Mystical Elf, and use her energy to power up my reinforced Cannon Soldier!" Devon yelled in glee. Joey was caught off guard by Devon's tactic. That's why he didn't sacrifice Mystical Elf right away, he wanted to wait and power up Cannon Soldier with a magic card! And now that Cannon Soldier was stronger, it would pack a bigger punch! And there was nothing he could do to stop this!  
  
Metal spikes jarred into the elf's body, killing her off. Her lifeforce flowed into the Cannon Soldier's cannon, powering it up. "And now, all 1100 attack points of my Cannon Soldier will be used in a direct assault on you! I switch my Cannon Soldier to attack mode, and now, I'm gonna attack you with it! Cannon Soldier, take him down!" Devon screamed, and the soldier fired a yellow beam out of the cannon on top of its head. The beam struck Joey in the chest and knocked him to the ground.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 700  
  
"Oh no! My life points are down to 700!" Joey acknowledged as he got to his feet.  
  
Devon laughed. "And we haven't even been dueling for five minutes, prick! The only reason why you won our last duel is because of sheer, blind luck. This time around, luck's got nothing to with it! It's just me vs. you, and without blind luck, you don't stand a chance against me," Devon taunted.  
  
"You're wrong. This duel's just gettin' started. You may have won that last exchange, but I promise you, you won't be winning for long," Joey retorted.  
  
"Oh, I'm shakin' and quakin' in my boots! I'm so terrified! If Joey said it, it must come true! He's the ultimate duelist! He's always right!" Devon burst out into more laughter. "Please! You wouldn't know what shit was if you fell in it face first."  
  
"Enough!!" Joey hollered out. "You're going down!"  
  
"Bring on the fight!!" Devon dared him. "I can take anything you throw at me! C'mon, give me your best shot!"  
  
"And that I will do!" Joey exclaimed in a valiant fashion.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
"Okay, hand me your stars," stated one of administators at the shore. Jasmine ejected the stars out of her dueling glove and handed them to the man. He took them from her and sat them on the desk beside his computer. He started typing in a swift manner, accessing various pages.  
  
"Um, just wondering, how long does this verification process take?" asked Jasmine while she doing a common head motion we often see girls with long hair doing.  
  
"Not long. All I have to do is scan the stars to make sure they're yours, find your life, update it with the new information,, then enter your file into the tournament roster, therefore getting you in," the man explained, then continued with his work. The scanning acknowledged that the stars belonged to her. Jasmine waited patiently while the man updated her file with the new information, then uploaded it into the tournament roster. "There you go. You're in," he told her.  
  
"Thank you," Jasmine replied, then turned away from the man and started walking away.  
  
"Best of luck in the tournament," the man spoke, and she grinned. He watched her figure grow smaller and smaller as she walked further away from his small station. When she was gone, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a cellphone. Dialing a number, he put the phone up to his ear waited for someone to answer.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Mr. Pegasus, Jasmine Cortez has won fifteen stars. This means that she will be heading to the Crystal Kingdom when the cruise ship gets here. She will no doubtedly search for your castle and try to rescue Morty when she gets there," the man informed him.  
  
"Yes. But whether she's successful or not is still undecided. Actually, come to think of it, Jasmine's arrival could actually play right into my hands and give me an advantage I've never had before..." Pegasus's voice trailed off as the phone clicked off.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Ash had already earned his fifteen stars and took care of the process necessary to gain entrance into the main tournament. Now, he was simply waiting for the Sub-Competition to end. He was closer than ever now. In a few moments, he would be getting his revenge, which was something he had been anticipating for a long time now. The thought of giving Pegasus a horrific death brought an icy smile onto Ash's face. He killed off his mother, and it wouldn't be long before he was killed off. Ash swore on his mother's grave that he would fuck Pegasus up for stripping her of her life, and taking away from him the very thing he loved most. He walked into his tint, and sat down. Pulling his deck of cards out of his pants pocket, he began to look through the cards.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
The doctors had finished running their scans and tests on Brock, and were gone to examine them in detail. They allowed Tristan to sit with Brock and keep him company, and that's just what he was doing. He sat in a chair beside Brock's bed. Brock was conscious, and the slight slurring that was in his voice before had dissappeared by now. His speech was clear. "So, how do you feel?" Tristan asked him.  
  
Brock shrugged weakly. "I feel pretty weak, and I'm definitely not feeling my best. I feel really different now," he responded.  
  
Tristan adjusted his position in the chair. "Uh, Brock? Did you know about this medical condition of yours before hand? Were you aware of it, but you wouldn't tell me or anybody else?"  
  
(Flashback)  
  
Brock propelled himself into the room and carefully scanned the walls. Nothing was on them, so he scrutinized the pedestal. After close examination, Brock found a small inscription on the pedestal. Perhaps this could shine some light on what happened to him! Brock began to read it aloud.  
  
"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
"Uh..." Brock wasn't sure if he should lie or tell Tristan the truth. However, he decided to follow the fundamental moral his father drilled into him while he was a child. "Yeah... I knew," he stated slowly.  
  
"You knew? (Brock nodded his head in confirmation) Well, then, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you say anything? This could've been avoided if you had said something to me! Why didn't you?"  
  
"Because I was afraid!" Brock replied. A small moment of silence filled the room before he continued. "I was afraid of what you would think of me if I said something. I thought you might've considered me some kind of freak or something, and you would stop hanging around me. I was scared to say something."  
  
"Brock, you should know better than that. I'm your best friend, I'm not gonna abandon you because something 'out of this world' happened to you. I'm not like that, and you should know that. Why would you even think that?"  
  
"Why wouldn't I? It happens all the time. Someone thinks that they have a good friend, then when something happens to them, the friend runs off, never to return. If you was me, and I was you, I'm sure you would've got scared and tried to hide it. If I offended you with my actions, I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it."  
  
"No offense taken," Tristan answered. "But, what happened? How did you get this... disease?"  
  
Brock sighed heavily. "Remeber that day when I went for a good swim to help relieve and relax my mind? (Tristan nodded) Well, I simply swum about under the surface of the lake, watching all the harmless species of aquatic life when I stumbled upon something. There was a plane, an old plane which had apprently crashed and sunk down into the lake. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to turn this simple swim into an underwater excursion. After using an Oxygen Infuser to give myself a good dosage of oxygen, I swam into the wrecked plane, looking about. There was a lot of old suitcases and stuff in the plane, nothing special. But, I noticed a trapdoor in the floor of the plane, and there was a small lever attached to it. So, I pulled the lever, and the door opened, allowing me passage to the room below. It was a treasure room. There was lots of gold and plenty of jewelry in the room. I started to head back to the surface to get you, because I knew you loved gold and would be blown away by the vast amount of genuine gold in the room, but I changed my mind at the last moment and swam back. Going back into that room, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before: another lever attach on the wall. I pulled it, and it opened yet another secret door. More curious than ever, I swam inside and saw a glass container holding an object inside. So, what I did was, I threw the container onto the floor and burst it into pieces, and something rushed at me. It thrusted itself into me, and that's where things get a little hazy..." his voice trailed off.  
  
"What do you mean, something thrusted itself into you? Was it an animal of somekind?"  
  
"No, I don't know what it was. But, what I remeber is that I was in pain, and that I passed out. When I woke back up, that's when I noticed that I felt differently inside. Actually, the first thing I noticed was that I was still underwater and I thought that I needed to get out of there, but then I realized that I could breathe in a submerged enviroment, something that no ordinary human could do without some kind of technology wokring on their side. I mean, sure they could try taking in some breaths while underwater, but they would breathe in a bunch of water and drown, not air. But, I could breathe air out of the water, like a fish. And to add to it, water wouldn't flow through my lungs and mouth for some reason. I could talk underwater."  
  
"Whoa..." Tristan's voice trailed off. "This must've been when your mutations started," he deduced.  
  
"Yeah. That's basically how it happened, and I don't know if its reversable or not. I just hope nothing else happens to me. I just remebered, I need to get out of here and continue my quest to win that money for my father," Brock said.  
  
"Brock, you're in no condition to be dueling. The doctors aren't going to let you out of here anyway, and even if they said you could go, I wouldn't let you go. You need to stay here, under constant observation. There's no telling what could happen to you. In the mean time, I'm gonna go search that plane for answers," Tristan spoke while rising out of his chair.  
  
"No, there's no reason to do that. I looked already, but I didn't find anything," Brock told him.  
  
"There must've been something in that plane that you missed, something that can help you. I'm not about to sit around and watch your body go awol without doing something," Tristan argued.  
  
"But, there's nothing down there, I looked already. There's no sense in running off looking for something that you won't find in that plane. Look, I appreciate that you're trying to help me, but there's nothing down there. But there is something you can do for me, okay? I want you to go on and try winning that tournament for me, all right? Since I'm in no condition to duel, try to win the money for my father, please? He deserves it."  
  
Tristan didn't say anything for a while. He simply stood in place while looking at the floor. "Tristan? C-can you do that for me?" Brock requested, and Tristan slowly nodded after about a ten second pause.  
  
"Yeah, I'll do it for you. I don't want to leave you alone, though."  
  
"I'll be fine, all right? If you tried winning the tournament for me, I'd feel much better. One more thing: Don't call my family and tell them about this. I'm not so sure if they need to hear this, yet, okay?"  
  
Tristan acknowledged this, then walked out of the room, his head hanging.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
*** Joey: 700 LP | Devon: 2000 LP ***  
  
Joey sighed while drawing a card from his deck. That last move Devon executed really put the hurt on him, so he would now have to be extra careful. He couldn't lose now, not after he had gotten so close to achieving the goal of getting into the tournament. Now that Devon's Cannon Soldier's stats were back to normal (400/1300), it wouldn't take much at all to defeat it. "I know just the way to tie our scores in a single move."  
  
"Oh really? Enlighten me," Devon spoke. (when I insert this sign, that means Devon is about to open his mouth to say something)  
  
"Oh, I'll enlighten you, allright. You think you're a hotshot, Devon (), but in reality, you're not. I'll give it to you, that was a pretty good move you just performed. But, your move has one giant flaw. Sure, you may have taken out 1100 of my life points in one blast, but you've left yourself wide open to attack. Any good duelist out there would know to put down a magic or trap card that'll protect the Cannon Soldier from attacks after a move like that is executed. And you call yourself a good duelist..." Joey sneered, then continued. "I'll play one card face-down, then play the Axe Raider, in attack mode!"  
  
After Joey slapped the cards onto the console, it didn't take long before they found themselves onto the field. Axe Raider growled viciously upon loading, clutching its blade tightly.  
  
ATK: 1700 DEF: 1500  
  
"You should consider yourself extremely lucky that I didn't get my trump cards like Red Eyes Black Dragon or Summoned Skull when I drew, because you'd be a done deal if I had've. Axe Raider, destroy Cannon Soldier with your Wind Blades!" Joey snapped. His monster roared and charged for Cannon Soldier, delivering two mighty slashes which sliced the robot in half. It shattered into pieces violently, and Devon's life point meter began to drop.  
  
Devon's Life Points- 700  
  
"I told ya'! Tied the score in one move! I'm good, I'm good!" Joey yelled in a sing-song fashion while dancing.  
  
Yugi smiled and commented, "Great work, Joey!"  
  
"No!!" Devon screamed. "How could this happen? How could this happen to me? Everything was going so well! I had over 1000 life points more than Joey, I was winning! In one move, he tied up the score! Oh, why didn't protect my Cannon Soldier? Why was I so fuckin' stupid?!" he asked himself, then quickly regained his composure and sighed. "Not to worry, though. This duel isn't over yet, Joey, and I still haven't released my biggest bag of tricks yet. Celebrate your little short-lived victory while you can, Joey, but mark my words: you won't be dancing when I get through with you."  
  
"And what, I'm supposed to be scared now? Oh no, Devon's coming to get me! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?! He's gonna get me, Yugi! He's gonna finish me off! AAH!!" he jeered, then laughed hard afterwards. "Dream on, dick."  
  
"Oh, give me a break! Can you be any more of a loser than you already are? You can't even be a little original, for cryin' out loud! Such a sad case you are," Devon quipped.  
  
"I'm just givin' you a taste of your own medicine. Not so good, is it?"  
  
"Please, is that all you can come up with? Not only are you a loser, but you can't even do sarcasm right? Just what kind of case are you? I don't think you're sad anymore, you've surpassed that level."  
  
"Hey, that's not all I can up with, scrawny bitch-ass! Don't tick me off!" Joey warned him.  
  
"Whatever," Devon drew a card afterwards. "Hmm... let's see your Axe Raider stand up to this! It's now time for my trump card, Kazejin, in attack mode!" Devon slammed the card onto the slot, bringing the elemental box into battle.  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 2200  
  
"Kazejin, destroy Axe Raider!" Devon commanded. The small symbol on top of the box started glowing, and the monster blew a large gust of powerful winds at Axe Raider. Right before the attack reached Axe Raider, Joey activated his face-down card he had played earlier.  
  
"Negate attack, which I'll use to stop your Kazejin's attack right in its tracks!" Joey yelled. A warp appeared in front of Axe Raider and the attack was absorbed, then the warp dissappeared to wherever it came from. Joey smirked in delight. "Worked like a charm. Now that you've wasted your turn, it's time for me to finish you off," he spoke while drawing a card, getting just what he wanted. He slapped the card down, and out popped the Summoned Skull, which growled fiercely while taking a fighting stance.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200  
  
"Heh, c'mon dick, attack me. Show me your worst," Devon dared him.  
  
"And that's just what I'm about to do. You can kiss your Kazejin goodbye! Summoned Skull, attack with Lightning Strike!" Joey snapped. An ominous thunderclap sounded, then a lightning beam struck the demon, who absorbed all the power, then shot out numerous smaller bolts at Kazejin.  
  
"Not so fast, Joey! Kazejin, block the attack!" Devon announced, and Joey let out a gasp. A large tornado descended from the sky and landed in front of Kazejin, and the Summoned Skull's lightning was deflected by it, causing the small bolts to strike the ground and explode elsewhere. Then the tornado dissipated afterwards. Joey was taken by surprise. "Didn't know old Kazejin could defend itself from attacks? I didn't, either, but I found out later. You can get ready to have a good time losing, dork."  
  
"I don't think so," Joey countered. "Just a minor setback, but I promise you, that won't stop me from winning. I have other cards in my deck that can get rid of your little Kazejin."  
  
"You just might, but you'll never get a chance to play them. You'll be wiped out before you can get to them," Devon said confidently. He reached out and drew a card from his deck. Looking at it, he smirked. "Hmm.... just the card I was looking for. I'll play Black Pendant, to raise my Kazejin's attack power by 500 points!"  
  
ATK: 2900  
  
"Think you and your Summoned Skull can handle this? Go, Kazejin, blow Summoned Skull away now!" Kazejin attacked with a strong gust of wind, and though the Summoned Skull tried to take it, it could not. As a result, the monster was sent hurling through the air before it crashed viciously and exploded into pieces.  
  
Joey's Life Points- 300  
  
"Oh, look, only 300 life points left! Things don't look to good for you, do they, Joey boy?"  
  
Joey frowned in disgust while Devon's taunting laugh rang out through his ears.  
  
*** Joey: 300 LP | Devon: 700 LP ***  
  
"Down to 300 life points, and my supercharged Kazejin dominates the field. When I said you were gonna lose to me, I meant it."  
  
"This duel isn't over yet, Devon, as you can see. Your Kazejin may be strong, but I've brought it down before, and I'll bring it down again!"  
  
"In your dreams, moron! Last time we dueled, I didn't know Kazejin could block all incoming attacks. But, now that I do, you won't never be able to attack my Kazejin, because I can simply blocks every last one of your attacks, no matter how strong it is. You don't have a monster in your deck capable of that, or else, you would've shown it off by now," Devon said menacingly.  
  
"You don't know what I have, Devon. You're not psychic," remarked Joey.  
  
"So what if I don't know what you have. It doesn't take psychic powers to figure out that you're gonna lose this match, and I'm gonna win it. Just watch me."  
  
Joey ignored Devon and reached out to a draw a card. [Devon's Kazejin will be hard to take down, I'm sure of that. He's not gonna let it go without a fight. Whatever I do, I'd better get a card that'll make this move count! I've gotta get a good card!] Joey thought to himself while he grabbed the card. Pulling it toward him, he looked to see what he got. [Allright! It's my Kunai With Chain card! All I need to do now is lure Devon into attacking, and he'll be caught right in my trap! But, I don't think its time for it to be used just yet,]  
  
"For this turn, I'll play one monster in defense mode," Joey said while placing the card onto a slot. A holocard appeared in front of him, and on top of it stood Battle Warrior.  
  
ATK: 700 DEF: 1000  
  
Devon chuckled and said, "Is that all you have to offer? You know, all those empty threats really make your already sucky image plummet. Kazejin, destroy Battle Warrior! Solar Wind Blast!" Devon snapped, and his monster shot a powerful blast of wind at Battle Warrior. The card was blown off the holocard; it flew past Joey and exploded into pieces violently. "And here I am, thinking you're gonna show off some of your supposed 'might'. You are a sad case, really," mused Devon.  
  
"Shut up, prick. You'll see soon enough," Joey retorted while drawing another card. This time he got a Monster Reborn card, which he could use later. All he needed was one last card, then he would be set. He placed down another card. "For this turn, I'll play Giltia the Knight, in defense mode!" The monster appeared on the field.  
  
ATK: 1850 DEF: 1700 (DEF ?)  
  
"It's an improvement over that silly Battle Warrior, I'll admit, but it's still no match for my Kazejin. Attack now!" The symbol on the box glowed, signifying that Kazejin's attack was ready. It blew out yet another powerful gust of wind, lifting Giltia off the ground and throwing it up into the air. The monster tumbled back down to the earth and erupted into pieces upon hitting the ground. Devon laughed teasingly.  
  
Joey rolled his eyes and reached out to draw another card. He hoped it would be the card he was looking for. If it was, Devon could consider himself finished! If it wasn't, he'd simply have to find another monster to play in defense mode until the card presented itself. [C'mon, deck, don't fail me now. I need that card on the double!] Joey pulled the card off the deck and looked at it, then his eyes lit up in amazement and happiness. [Yes! Devon is a done deal!]  
  
"Well, are you going to actually fight me on this move, or are you gonna cower behind those weak monsters of yours?" Devon inquired.  
  
"I'm ready to fight ya' now, prick. It doesn't take a psychic to realize that after a minute, your Kazejin will be finished. I promise you, your monster won't be standing any longer," Joey stated confidently. "To start my brilliant move, I'll play two cards face-down, then play Monster Reborn, to revive my fallen Axe Raider, and it'll be played in attack mode!" Joey announced. Monster Reborn successfully revived the previously deceased monster, and it growled while clutching its axe.  
  
ATK: 1700 DEF: 1500  
  
Devon burst into laughter. "You mean, that's what your ultimate move was?! You really are a nutcase! Oh, you're so fuckin' stupid, and I'm gonna blow away your monster. Kazejin, attack Axe Raider now!" he demanded.  
  
"Not so fast, punk-ass prick, I play Kunai With Chain!" Joey announced, catching Devon off guard. The jock was surprise when Axe Raider hurled several chains at Kazejin, which wrapped around the box and paralyzed it. "Ha! Now, I'll activate my other face-down card, De-Spell, which will destroy the Black Pendant magic card your monster is equipped with!" Joey activated his other card, and within a few moments, the magic of the card destroyed Black Pendant. Devon was in shock.  
  
"No!! How could this be happening... to me?!"  
  
"Kunai With Chain raises my Axe Raider's attack strength by 500 points, which makes it's total amount of points 2200. To add to that, I play Rush Recklessly, which will add 700 more attack points and defense points onto Axe Raider!" Joey slapped down the card he drew from his hand, implementing it into the duel.  
  
(Axe Raider) ATK: 2900 DEF: 2200 | (Kazejin) ATK: 2400 DEF: 2200  
  
"Now, Axe Raider, obliterate Kazejin from the field!" commanded Joey triumphantly.  
  
"NOO!!!" Devon screamed as Axe Raider used it blade to cut a huge slice into Kazejin, ultimately cutting the box in half before it finally exploded into pieces. Devon couldn't believe his eyes. His strongest card, taken out just like that. This was the third time Joey managed to destroy his favorite and strongest monster (Joey destroyed it twice in their first duel). How could he keep doing this?!  
  
Devon's Life Points- 200  
  
"Ooh... getting a bit sparse on life points, eh, Devon? And what do you know? I'm actually ahead of you!" Joey exclaimed in glee. "I thought it wasn't possible. Devon said it wasn't possible; he insisted that he would win and that I lose in an embarassing fashion. But, I'm in the lead. I'm winning! Can you believe that, Yuge?!"  
  
"Most definitely. Devon's not the greatest, brightest duelist of all time," Yugi replied calmly. Devon looked at Yugi and frowned.  
  
"Hey, what the hell did you just say, pipsqueak?"  
  
"Wow. I intended for that to be an insult, Joey, but I'm actually right. He's not even smart enough to comprehend what I just said," Yugi added, then began to laugh. Joey laughed along with him, and Devon grew even madder.  
  
"Hey, that's enough!! I thought we were dueling, not having a sarcasm rally!"  
  
"You started it, we're finishing it," Joey retorted and continued laughing with Yugi.  
  
"Ugh, I can't stand to be around you two any longer! I'm afraid I'll catch pipsqueak's syndrome!" Devon yelled, then forfeited the duel. He ejected the three stars he betted on the match, deactivated it duel disk, then suddenly turned and ran away from them. "This isn't over, Joey!! I'll be back!!"  
  
Joey and Yugi laughed even harder as this turn of events. Joey (after deactivating the duel disk) forced himself to pick up the stars Devon dropped, and inserted them into his dueling glove, laughing while doing so. He forced himself to stop laughing, cleared his throat, then held up his arm triumphantly. "I have won fifteen stars! I am officially a participant for the Crystal Kingdom Tournament!" he announced proudly.  
  
"Congratulations, Joey, but you're not officially in yet until you go get verified," Yugi pointed out thoughtfully, and Joey sweatdropped afterwards.  
  
"Ah, you know what I mean, Yuge! I did it!" He and Yugi both slapped hands with each other, then started walking away from the dueling site, headng toward the Administrators's desk.  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
(Ending Discloser below...)  
  
Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500 Well, that's all, folks! Sorry for the wait, but once again, it couldn't help. As I've said before, I'm a very busy guy who's always on the go. I don't know when the next episode will be up, but it probably won't be soon. I will try to get it up as quick as I can, but don't expect anything. Also, before I go, I'd like to thank you all for reading the book and giving it a chance, for waiting on me to successfully update the episodes, and for not filling up my e-mail inbox with e-mails pestering me about when the next update will be. I am glad that you all waited patiently, and I thank you. Now, with that off my chest, I bid you all farewell! 


	17. Episode 17, 'Let the Games Begin'

Hiya, everyone! I probably do not have to explain what this is, as you all know by now. It's a brand new episode! I hope you all enjoy this new episode, and I wish the long wait could've been avoided! -_-  
  
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Duelists of The Future - Season 1 - Episode 17, "Let the Games Begin" (9/26/2003)  
  
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Previously...  
  
Geoff kicked his shoes off and began unzipping his pants. He allowed Mai to pulled them off, then he yanked Mai's mini-skirt off her body as fast as possible. Mai's sandals fell of her feet as the two rolled over, putting Geoff on top of Mai. She ripped his boxer shorts off of him, and allowed him to yank her panties off, which he proceeded to do. Geoff and Mai moaned passionately as they continued kissing...  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Joey: "There's stars in here! And... my Duel Monsters are here too!"  
  
"I know! Geoff won them, and he gave them to us! He did a little hacking into the stars to change the owners of the stars from him to us! Do you realized what this means, Joey?!" Misty asked.  
  
Joey looked up at her, a huge smile on his face. "We're back in the game! And now you have another chance at the 100 million dollars! There is hope for your sisters!" he exclaimed.  
  
"I'll have to give Geoff a huge 'thank you' the next time I see him."  
  
-------------------------------  
  
"Mr. Pegasus, Jasmine Cortez has won fifteen stars. This means that she will be heading to the Crystal Kingdom when the cruise ship gets here. She will no doubtedly search for your castle and try to rescue Morty when she gets there," the man informed him.  
  
"Yes. But whether she's successful or not is still undecided. Actually, come to think of it, Jasmine's arrival could actually play right into my hands and give me an advantage I've never had before..." Pegasus's voice trailed off as the phone clicked off.  
  
|-------------------------------|  
  
A few more days passed by. It was currently around 5:20 AM. The sun was just beginning to rise, but it was still fairly dark outside. A rather tall figure entered a large, dark house. The figure had a masculine build, indicating that it was a man. The man walked through the room, heading toward a leather couch. He seated himself on the couch, and reached out to a desk phone sitting on a table in front of him. He picked up the receiver, then carefully dialed a number. A few seconds passed, and someone's voice spoke on the othe end of the phone.  
  
"Hello?" it said.  
  
"It's time..." Pegasus's voice responded, then he hung up and smirked.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
It was now around 9:40 AM. Today was the day that everyone will be transferring to Crystal Kingdom. The Sub-Competition was now officially over. Every duelist on Emerald Island was a contestant in the Crystal Kingdom Tournament. Everyone else who didn't make the cut were gone back to wherever they came from. Misty was packing up her campsite, and Joey was helping her. After the tint folded itself together, Misty transported it into her S.C.T. and starting folding her clothes together neatly. Joey was busy organizing the shoes she brought with her.  
  
"Okay, I'm done with the shoes," Joey informed Misty.  
  
"Great. Just leave them right there until I'm ready to store them," Misty instructed.  
  
"No problem," Joey replied casually. He watched Misty fold up the clothes, and after she was finished, she stored them all in her S.C.T. She stored the shoeboxes into the computer terminal, and sighed afterwards. She looked over the now empty site.  
  
"Well, that's everything," she commented, then turned to face Joey. "I'm packed and ready to go, how about you?"  
  
"Been ready since yesterday," Joey spoke. Misty was a little surprised at him.  
  
"You mean you didn't actually wait 'till the last minute to do something? I'm surprised."  
  
Joey chuckled and grinned, then looked around at the trees, flowers, and everything else that falls into the category of nature. "I'm gonna miss this place a little, aren't you?" he asked.  
  
"No, not really," Misty responded.  
  
"I don't know, I kinda liked the whole peaceful, serene feeling this island has. I've always liked nature."  
  
"I didn't think you were the type," chimed Misty, then she switched to another subject. "I wonder when the boat will arrive. I don't time for these long waits."  
  
"It's supposed to be coming today, so don't sweat it. Anyway, I guess I'm gonna go see what Yugi is up to. I'll see you around." Joey then walked off.  
  
"See ya' later, Joey," Misty said, then sighed heavily afterwards. Her minded drifted into thoughts about her sisters. Geoff saved her from being booted off the island, but she knew he wouldn't be able to help her if she screwed up this time around. She would have to be extra careful when dueling to make sure she wouldn't lose. Her sisters were depending on her to win the tournament, and she couldn't let them down, especially after everything they've did for her. Sure, they picked on her several times throughout the years, and they had their little quibbles, but Misty knew that they loved her with all their hearts, and that they would do anything for her. She could not let them down. If she did, she would never be able to forgive herself.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi was taking a nice stroll along the shores of Emerald Island. He was finally on his way to Crystal Kingdom! All the hard work and determination was starting to pay off! Yugi was excited about several things. First off, the prize money was up for grabs, and if he won the tournament, him and Solomon would be livin' large! Secondly, now that he was heading for Crystal Kingdom, he could be on the lookout for his parents. Yugi knew of the very slim chances that they could actually be alive, but he believed wholeheartedly that it was possible. Yami, however, wasn't as optimistic as Yugi was about this topic. He believed that Yugi was simply wasting his time, energy, and life on a frivilous search for something he wouldn't find. His parents had been missing for 14 years. If they had been alive, something about them would've turned up, especially in all of this time. As Yugi strolled down the coast, Yami began speaking to him.  
  
[So, Yugi, you made it through the Sub-Competition. Congratulations.]  
  
[Thanks, Yami,] Yugi answered.  
  
[Now that you're in the championship, you know that you must hone your dueling skills and use them to the farthest extent possible. The duelists in the championship will no doubt be some of the best players you've faced off with.]  
  
[I know, but I'll be ready for them,] Yugi said with confidence.  
  
Yami decided to switch to another subject. [Yugi? When you finally arrive at Crystal Kingdom, are you going to start your frivilous search for your dead parents?] he asked rather bluntly.  
  
[It's not a frivilous search, Yami, so stop saying that!] Yugi exclaimed.  
  
[Yugi, I know how you long to see the people that gave you life, but 14 years has passed by, and nothing about them has turned up, in all this time. If they were really alive, someone would've seen them by now, or they would've found a way to alert someone to their presence, don't you think?]  
  
[Maybe that's what they're doing now. Maybe they set up the tournament, in hopes of finally meeting the son they were seperated from 14 years ago.]  
  
Yami sighed an exasperated sigh. [Yugi, I think that there are other more productive, prosperous things you could use your time and energy on than this.... quest to find dead people,] Yami told him.  
  
[Well, thanks a lot for your insight and opinion, Yami, but I'm still set on looking for them,] Yugi responded unnervingly.  
  
[If that's what you want, so be it. To quote what people of today say when something is next to impossible: Good luck. You'll need lots of it.]  
  
[Thanks, Yami.]  
  
The link between the two of them was severed, and Yugi continued strolling down the beach. He eventually ran into Joey, and the two of them began to talk about things.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Geoff was busy walking through the posh forests of the island, and he was not alone. Beside him stood a sassy, beautiful woman better known as Mai. They were talking together, and they seemed to be growing closer. Mai flicked her hair out of her left eye. "So, Geoff, how did you get to become such an awesome duelist?"  
  
"Well, I wouldn't consider myself so much as awesome. I mean, great perharps, but awesome..." Geoff's humble sentence was cut short by Mai.  
  
"Geoff, give yourself some credit where it's due!" she scolded playfully. "You're an awesome duelist."  
  
"Thanks. And you're an awesome duelist too. You came really close to beating me in that duel a little while back. I was down to 225 life points, and if it hadn't been for Exodia, you would've obliterated me on your next turn. No one's ever had me pinned down like that before, so give yourself a good pat on the back," Geoff told her.  
  
Mai smiled. "That I will do," she then reached back and patted herself on her back, making Geoff giggle in the process. "Geoff, can I ask you something else?"  
  
"Sure, what?"  
  
"Where did you find those Exodia cards?"  
  
"Uh, I got 'em from a card shop a little while back. It was the last set of Exodia cards in the shop, I didn't see anymore," Geoff replied.  
  
"Bummer. It'd be nice to have a set of Exodia cards in my deck. I could use them. The Egyptian God Cards would be nice too," Mai said, then switched to a different subject. "Geoff, tell me a little bit more about yourself."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You know, where were you born, where did you grow up, how old are you, etc."  
  
"Oh," Geoff nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, um, I was born in Saffron City. Me and my family moved to Cerulean City for a little while, then we moved back to Saffron City. For the most part, I grew up in Saffron City. Oh yeah, I'm 22 years old," Geoff informed Mai.  
  
"I see."  
  
"So, how old are you and where were you born?" Geoff wondered.  
  
"Me? I'm 21 years old. (don't know her real age, so consider this an alternate universe change) I was born in Domino City. That's where I grew up, then I moved away to Goldenrod City. That's where I currently reside. It's really nice there."  
  
"Really? Well, I'll be sure to drop by and visit one of these days. I've always wanted to visit Goldenrod City anyway."  
  
Their conversation was cut short when a beeping noise sounded. Geoff was startled at first, but realized that it was Mai's pager that was making the noise when he saw her pluck it off her belt. She looked at it, then slipped it into her pocket. "My friend needs to see me. Geoff, I'm sorry, but I've got to go," Mai spoke.  
  
"Okay, I'll see you around, right?"  
  
"Definitely," Mai answered, then walked off. Geoff stared at her tight butt.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Mai walked toward the place the message indicated: Tori's campsite. She was pretty annoyed at his timing. All of the times he could've paged her, he chose now to do it, while she was talking with Geoff. She rolled her eyes at his behavior and continued along, getting closer to the campsite. Minutes passed, and she eventually came into view of the campsite. Tori was outside fishing something out of a rather large hotspring. He wasn't wearing anything except his blue boxers, which revealed his large, muscular, lightly tanned body. Mai frowned and walked a little closer.  
  
"Tori! Get some clothes on, will you?!" she shouted, gaining his attention. He looked up, saw a well-dressed Mai, and grinned sheepishly.  
  
"What do you mean 'get some clothes on'? I got some clothes on," he responded.  
  
"No, you don't, all you're wearing is blue boxers!"  
  
"Which can be construed as clothing..."  
  
"Tori!" Mai exclaimed, getting rather annoyed. "Just put on some more clothing on then, for crying out loud!"  
  
"Well, I'd love to, but unfortunately, while walking with my luggage, I lost my balance and as a result, all my clothes fell into this hotspring," Tori explained, then pulled up a pair of black slacks out of the hot spring, which was saturated with water. He dumped it into a pile of clothes next to him, which were equally as saturated. "See what I mean? All my clothes are ringing wet, and these pair of boxers are all I have left to wear. So, deal with it."  
  
Mai sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead. "Whatever. Look, just explain to me why you paged me to come here? You interrupted me, you know."  
  
"Sorry. Anyway, I paged you so we could talk about our plan. Today, the cruise ship will be taking us to Crystal Kingdom, and you know who resides there," Tori said matter-of-factly while looking at Mai.  
  
"Maximillion Pegasus," Mai answered in a similar fashion. "Couldn't we have discussed this on the boat? Why discuss it now?"  
  
"Because now is the best time to discuss this. We might be overheard by a guard on the ship. There is no guards at my campsite."  
  
"So, you have a plan drawn up already, right?" Mai asked him, but he did not give her the response she was looking for. He shook his head. "Why not? I thought you paged me so you could fill me in on your plan."  
  
"Chances are you would've found some flaw in it and wouldn't have liked it, so to hell with that," Tori snapped sarcastically. He drooped his hands into the hotspring and pulled out a black a-shirt which was ringing wet. He dropped it in the pile of clothes, then sighed. Shifting off his knees and into a standing position, Tori looked at Mai. "Well, let's get started on the plan. We need to formulate a good strategy if we're to stand any chance against Pegasus and his guards."  
  
"I know."  
  
Tori transported some papers out of his computer terminal. "I hacked through Pegasus's security and accessed the blueprints for his palace. We need to study the floorplans of his palace in order to come up with the most efficient, effective plan," he said while walking toward his large tint. He entered it, and Mai followed him.  
  
"Wow, now you're talking just like our boss," Mai spoke while stepping into the tint. A small, makeshift desk was set up inside, along with two chair sitting on the opposite sides of the table. Tori closed the tint up, then took a seat in one of the chairs. Mai sat in the other one.  
  
"Aren't you gonna hang those clothes up to dry?" she wondered.  
  
"With what? Anyway, I figure the steam from the hotspring will dry them."  
  
"You know, I do have a hair dryer with me. You could use it to dry out at least one outfit," Mai stated while taking the blue prints out of his hands.  
  
"Really? That'd be great, can I see it?" Tori asked.  
  
"Sure," she said and fiddled with the computer terminal on her arm. She transported a small hair dryer out of it, then handed it to Tori. "(sternly) Don't break it."  
  
"Don't worry, I won't," Tori assured her. He left the tint and looked through the wet clothes, grabbing a pair of baggy blue jeans and a black a- shirt. Walking back inside the tint, Tori closed it back up, then sat down. He laid the shirt across the desk, then started drying the pants with the hair dryer. It blew surprising strong for such a small, battery-powered object.  
  
"So, according to the blue prints, there's a secret entrance/escape route hidden in the gardens surrounding the palace. I think we should sneak into the palace using that secret route," Mai suggested. "It seems like we would run into much less resistance using this route than by bursting in through the front entrance."  
  
"True, but there will probably be guards in the gardens also. Either way we go, we're bound to run into some guards. The trick to pulling this off is not being seen."  
  
"You're saying we should take a stealthy approach?" Mai inquired, and Tori nodded. "I agree. We'll have a better chance at succeeding."  
  
The two continued to talk and draw up their plan.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Jasmine leaned against a Palm Tree and sighed. Soon, she would be arriving at Crystal Kingdom in order to rescue her love. She just hoped he was still alive. Pegasus had him in his clutches for quite a while now, and there's no telling what he could've been doing to him while he's been there. If Morty was dead, Pegasus could get ready to face the same fate. Without warning, a sharp needle stuck Jasmine in the arm. It was a sedative, and Jasmine began to dizzy upon impact. Blackness started settling in around her, and her vision became hazy. She moaned as the strength in her legs vanished, causing to her fall onto the ground. She fell into unconsciousness; three men in black suits lifted her off the ground and walked away with her in tow...  
  
-------------------------------  
  
The cruise ship finally arrived at 10:00 on the dot. Everyone was now ready to leave Emerald Island, in order to journey on to Crystal Kingdom. The duelists were excited as they boarded the ship with haste, eager to get away from Emerald Island. After everyone were in, the cruise ship set sail toward Crystal Kingdom. A couple hours passed, and there was plenty of entertainment to keep everyone busy while time passed by. Eventually, the island came into view. It was beautiful, with fancy, ocean front hotels lining the sandy, lushious coast. The hotels had marvelous, bright, very colorful neon lights lighting them up. It was a small city. Unlike Emerald Island, buildings were everywhere here. Shops, restaurants, mini-malls, spas, clubs, you name it. They were all beautifully lit with neon lights, and even the streets running through the city had neon lights on the sides. And, in the center of the island stood a very tall, golden building. Extravangant "christmas" style lights roped and snaked their way around the large structure. At the top of the tower was a holo-projection of who resided there, Maximillion Pegasus. Eventually, the cruise ship came to a stop at a docking bay, and everyone was instructed to exit the ship in an orderly fashion. With haste, the duelists made their way out of the ship, where they were directed out of the docking bay and onto the nearby beach. Maximillion Pegasus himself awaited them.  
  
"Welcome, duelists, to the Crystal Kingdom, build from the ground up by me, your gracious host Maximillion Pegasus," he greeted with open arms.  
  
Ash stood in the crowd, with a frown on his face. [So we meet again, you silver-haired bitch,] he thought to himself coldly.  
  
"Here is where the duration of the championship will take place. Well, the entire tournament won't be taking place on this beach, but you get my drift, hopefully. Anyway, there are a few things I'll have to make clear to you. In this championship, you won't just be randomly selecting a duelist out of the crowd and challenging them to a duel. Instead, you will have an opponent assigned to you by me. Secondly, I must point out that now the duels will be longer than before, because now you will have 4000 life points at your disposal during your duels. Now, the duels will be taking place in the Orion Dome Complex on the southeast end of the island. The Orion Dome Complex is composed of three large, glass domes in which you will have your duels. The tournament will be using a traditional tournament bracket, meaning that it will be divided into two regular rounds, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and then the final match, which will be the champion of the tournament vs. me. Now, to each of you with Egyptian God Cards, it should be known that you can only use one of these in any given duel. One duelist can never have two Egyptian God Cards on the field at the same time, or else they are disqualified from the tournament. Now, I believe that is all you should know, so now, you can all head over to the aforementioned Orion Dome Complex, where the first matches will began. A tournament bracket will be e-mail to your computer terminals for further information. Good luck to you all!" he finished, then waved at the crowd of duelists standing below him. He was escorted away by guards. All the duelists began flocking to the Orion Dome Complex to watch and participate in the matches.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Thirty minutes passed by (to allow duelists participating time to prepare themselves). At Dome 3, the very first match of the championship was about to begin. Outside of the glass dome was a small building. This was the Duelists Prepping Area, which was a place for duelists to configure their decks, relax, go over their main strageties, and other such things. Inside the glass dome was a huge arena,made of glass, located in the center of the dome. This is where the duelists would duel, and surrounding it was large rows of seats which seated an enormous crowd of both duelists and spectators who had come to watch. An announcer stood on an elevated post beside the arena. He cleared his throat before speaking into the microphone in his hand.  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Crystal Kingdom Championship! Are you all ready to have a splendid time?!"  
  
The crowd answered with applause and cheers. "Then let the games begin! Our very first match-up, upcoming duelist Misty Chase vs. the 5th best duelist in the world, Sydney Anderson!" (Sydney is a tall, red-head white woman around the age of 20. She had gray eyes, and is wearing a black, kneelength dress.)  
  
Suddenly, the two women, Misty and Sydney, appeared on the glass stage. They had used teleporter squares in the Duelists Prepping Area to teleport to the arena. The two women had their duel disks on and ready to go. Their color coordinated grids appeared in front of them (Misty: Hot Pink, Sydney: Pastel Pink). Neither girls made a motion to start up some chitchat before the duel. They were down to business. The crowd roared as the duel began.  
  
Misty: 4000 LP | Sydney: 4000 LP  
  
Joey was there watching her first duel in the championship. "C'mon, Misty, you can do this!" Joey cheered her on.  
  
A coin toss randomly selected Sydney as the duelist to make the first move. "Ready or not, Misty Chase, here I go!" she stated as she drew her first five cards. Looking them over, she pulled up two cards. "I play two cards face-down," she spoke while doing so. "Then I'll summon one monster face- down."  
  
Three face-down holocards appeared in front of her, two of them located behind the face-down monster card. "And that ends my turn."  
  
Misty drew her first five cards, forming her hand. [All my hard work at Emerald Island is finally starting to pay off. I made it this far, and now I've gotta be more careful than ever. If I lose one duel in this championship, then it's over, and I will have failed my sisters. That's not an option. I have to win this, and every other duel I play.] She pulled up three cards out of her hand. "I'll also play two cards face-down, and I'll summon Grand Tiki Elder, in attack mode!" she announced. Two face-down cards materalized in front of her, along with a Grand Tiki Elder card face- up, and the monster itself stood on its holocard.  
  
ATK: 1500 DEF: 800  
  
"Hmm... why play such a weak monster in attack mode?" Sydney wondered to herself. "Unless Misty has some kind of plan, placing Grand Tiki Elder in attack mode was a huge mistake. I know she have to be planning something, because she has two other cards face-down." Sydney drew another card from her deck, then added the card to her hand. "I flip my face-down monster face-up, in attack mode!"  
  
"I wonder what monster she played? I hope it enough for me to handle," Misty mused quietly.  
  
The holocard rotated into a face-up, then a Machine King jumped out the card, in an attack position.  
  
ATK: 2200 DEF: 2000  
  
"Machine King, attack Misty's Grand Tiki Elder now!" Sydney ordered. Her robot pointed its arms at Misty's monster, then thrusted its hands out of its sockets. The hands were equipped with rockets, which traveled toward Misty's monster at blazing speeds.  
  
"Not so fast, Sydney! Reveal face-down card: Mask of Brutality!" Misty shouted while her holocard revealed itself. "Once I equip my Grand Tiki Elder with Mask of Brutality, its attack points will be raised by 1000 points!" she announced happily. The mask floated out of the card and thrusted itself into Grand Tiki Elder.  
  
ATK: 2500  
  
"And to absorb the negative effects this card normally gives, I play my other face-down magic card called Masked Doll, which stops the other mask from draining my life points! With 2500 attack points, your Machine King is no match for my monster! Grand Tiki Elder, attack Sydney's robot now!" Misty snapped. Her monster raised its arms into the air and fired a large, yellow circle at Machine King.  
  
"Ha! Two can play that game, Misty! I activate my face-down magic card: 7 Completed!" Sydney revealed, and Misty gasped. "With 7 Completed, I have a choice of raising any machine type monster's attack or defense points by 700, and I choose to raise Machine King's attack power!"  
  
ATK: 2900  
  
"With 2900 attack points, your Grand Tiki elder's attack won't scratch my monster!" True to Sydney's word, Grand Tiki Elder's ring of power blasted through Machine King, but didn't hurt it. Instead, Misty lost 400 life points. "And now, I'll deal some more damage on your life points! Machine King, destroy Grand Tiki Elder!"  
  
"No!" Misty yelled as Machine King's Jet Punch struck her monster and obliterated it. After the smoke from the attack cleared, her monster no longer stood.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 3200  
  
Sydney laughed. "Look like you're gonna have to bring your game up a few notches if you wanna last against me, Misty. Don't forget, I'm the 5th best duelist of the world, so don't think this duel is gonna be a cakewalk for you," she told her.  
  
Misty frowned as she drew a card. She couldn't afford to lose. Not when four lives were riding on this duel. Her sisters, and Daisy's boyfriend John, were all depending on her to win, and she could not let them down. She would never be able to forgive herself. Pulling the card up to her face, she looked at it. [Another Mask of Brutality, fortunately. Unfortunately, though, I don't have any monsters in my hand powerful enough to defeat Machine King, even with the mask equipped. I'm gonna have to come up with another tactic,] she thought.  
  
Meanwhile, Joey's eyes were locked on the exciting duel unfolding. "C'mon, Misty, you can do this," Joey muttered.  
  
"I lay down one card face-down, then I'll summon, Shining Abyss, in defense mode," she stated while placing the cards on the slots located on the pink duel disk. Shining Abyss appeared in front of Misty, along with the face- down card, which was behind the monster. "Make your move, Sydney."  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1800  
  
Field Recap: Sydney has 1 Machine King, 1 card face-down, and 1 7 Completed used on Machine King to increase ATK. Misty has 1 Shining Abyss, 1 Masked Doll, and 1 card face-down in play.  
  
"With pleasure," Sydney spoke and drew a card. Unfortunately, it wasn't another 7 Completed, but it could still be used later. Adding it to her hand, she looked up at Machine King and pointed at Misty's monster. "Attack Shining Abyss with your Jet Punch!" Machine King wasted no time. It fired another pair of rocket equipped hands into Misty's monster, causing it to explode into pieces.  
  
Misty cringed at this. She did not like the way this duel was going so far. She drew a card, which turned out to be Pot of Greed. "I play Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two more cards from my deck," she said, then did so. The next two cards were Mask of Impregnability, and Jam Defender. [Allright! Once I draw Revival Jam, I'll be nearly unstoppable! For now...] "I'll place one card face-down, then I'll play the magic card Monster Reborn, which I'll use to revive Shining Abyss, which I place in defense mode," Misty finished.  
  
Shining Abyss found its way back to the field, thanks to the magic of Monster Reborn.  
  
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1800  
  
Sydney pulled another card from her deck. She eyed the card, but her facial expression was unreadible. "Hmm.... one monster card face-down, then I'll attack Shining Abyss and rid of the field of it again! Machine King, do your stuff!" Sydney yelled, and her monster once again fired a pair of hands at Misty's monster.  
  
"Not this time, Sydney! I activate my face-down card, Mask of Impregnability! This card will protect my monster from harm!" Misty yelled. The face-down holocard turned face-up, then a large mask appeared in front of Shining Abyss. Sydney's attack hit the mask, bounced off, and exploded somewhere else on the field. "Worked like a charm, and now..." Misty's voice trailed off as she drew a card. Her lips curved into a smile.  
  
[Oh no, she must've gotten something good,] Sydney thought to herself.  
  
"First I play this magic card Mask of Brutality, which I'll equip my Shining Abyss with and raise its attack points by 1000!"  
  
ATK: 2600  
  
"Right now it still isn't strong enough to bring down your Machine King, but once I activate the magic card Bright Castle..." Sydney gasped, and Misty continued, "My Shining Abyss' attack power will rise by 500, making it stronger than your Machine King!" Misty's magic card activated, powering up Shining Abyss and making it mightier than before.  
  
ATK: 3100  
  
(BTW, Bright Castle is a magic card from Duelists of the Roses which increases all Light-type monsters ATK by 500. I'm not sure if Shining Abyss is a Light-type monster, but this specific monster wasn't in either of the Duel Monster cardlists I'm using, and based off how Shining Abyss looked in the Tag Team Takedown episodes, I'm assuming it is a Light-type monster. If anyone can correct me, feel free to e-mail me, and I'll change this segment of the duel. E-mail me at TheMusicianKing@hotmail.com.)  
  
"Oh no, Shining Abyss is stronger than my monster!" Sydney acknowledged.  
  
"That's right. And now.. Shining Abyss, attack Machine King now!" Misty commanded. Shining Abyss grunted as it powered a white energy beam in its hands, then shot it at Machine King. The attack traveled across the field without any interference from trap cards, meaning that Misty made a wise move in attacking now, instead of holding back in fear that Sydney's remaining face-down card was a trap of some sort. The attack engulfed Machine King and blew it into smithreens, and covered a large portion of Sydney's field in blinding white light. When it faded, there wasn't a trace of Machine King left.  
  
"Your Machine King has been demolished!" Misty stated in satisfaction.  
  
Sydney's Life Points- 3800  
  
Sydney frowned at this turn of events. Her Machine King, one of her most powerful monsters, was just destroyed easily. And now, Shining Abyss had a whopping 3100 attack points. With that kind of power, it could take down a Blue Eyes White Dragon with ease! But she would defeat it. Her deck had a lot of firepower she hadn't even showed off yet. The Machine King was just a taste of what her deck possessed.  
  
"This duel isn't over, Misty, not by a long shot. You may have won that last round, but I still have a lot more to show off."  
  
"Then make your move, Sydney. Show me what you got," Misty dared her.  
  
Sydney drew a card from her deck. She frowned, then played it reluctantly. "Spirit of the Harp, in defense mode!" she yelled and watched her monster appear.  
  
"Is that all you got? Shining Abyss, destroy it now!" Shining Abyss sent another powerful blast of energy at Sydney's defense monster. The attack connected and blew it into smithreens. Sydney shielded her eyes, then reached out to draw a new card, now that it was her turn again. [This is just great! Shield and Sword allows me to swap attack and defensive points! Therefore, the attack points becomes the amount of defense points a monster has, and the defense points becomes the amount of attack points! Misty's Shining Abyss make have a whopping 3100 attack points, but its defensive points are nothing but 1800. When I activate this card, it won't take much to destroy it!]  
  
"All right, Misty, I know just how to take down your powerful Shining Abyss, and I'm gonna do it."  
  
"Oh yeah, how?" Misty asked, a bit curious as to what Sydney had planned.  
  
"Allow me to show you. First, I play this monster, Launcher Spider, in attack mode!" Sydney slapped the card onto the center slot and brought the monster to life.  
  
ATK: 2200 DEF: 2500  
  
"And now... I activate my magic card, Shield and Sword!" she yelled triumphantly, and Misty gasped in surprise. The magic card immediately unleashed its effects upon being played, and both Sydney and Misty's monsters' stats were swapped.  
  
(Shining Abyss) ATK: 1800 DEF: 3100 | (Lanucher Spider) ATK: 2500 DEF: 2200  
  
"Now your once mighty Shining Abyss is simply nothing but prey for my Launcher Spider! Shock Rocket attack!" she shouted to Launcher Spider, which proceeded to shoot out numerous missiles aimed at Misty's Shining Abyss. It screamed in pain as the rockets plastered into it back-to-back and exploded upon impact, successfully eliminating the monster.  
  
Misty's Life Points- 2500  
  
Sydney laughed in triumph. "Nearly half of your life points are gone, but I still have nearly all of mine! Face it, Misty, you're simply not good enough to defeat me. There's a reason why I'm recognized as the 5th best duelist of the world. I have several years of experience under my belt, and I'm gonna use every last bit of said experience to blow you away!" she finished, then laughed some more.  
  
Misty frowned and worry began to show on her face. [I cannot lose this duel! I just can't! I have to win, for the sake of my sisters!] she thought to herself.  
  
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Ash was down at the docks, looking up in the sky. He was thinking about his mother. Although he tried to cope with the fact that she was gone forever, Ash couldn't stop thinking about her. Delia was such a gentle person. She never did anything to anyone. She was a nice woman, so why did she have to die off? Why did Pegasus have to do that to her? Ash decided to forget about what happened, and tried to think about some of things he and his mother did together. They used to have so much fun together. Sometimes they would go into town and shop, other times they'd go to the park and play. He enjoyed spending time with his mother. He still remebered the day when she first started teaching him how to swim. It didn't take him long to catch on, and he had a lot of fun learning how to do it, which was strange because he didn't care much about the learning process. But Delia made it fun. That was her speciality... Ash's thoughts were interrupted when he heard sparking sounds nearby. Looking around, he didn't see anything right away, but then he noticed flashes of light eminating underneath him. He looked down, and saw sparks of electricity jumping out of his hands. Ash realized what was going on quickly. His powers were starting to act erratically again. Frantically, Ash tried to calm them down, but found that he couldn't. That's when he realized he needed to find Geoff. He would know what to do. Ash just hoped he could find him before some real damage was done. Fortunately, for Ash, Geoff was at the beach, watching the ocean waters. He was thinking about something, but Ash's yelling snatched him out of his thoughts.  
  
"Geoff! Geoff! I need your help!" Ash shouted while running toward him.  
  
Ash startled Geoff, but he immediately relaxed upon seeing who it was. "Ash, what's the matter?"  
  
"My powers, they're starting to become erratic again! Look!" Ash showed Geoff his hands, but there was no electricity sparking anymore. Everything was just fine.  
  
"Look at what?" Geoff mused.  
  
"My powers..." Ash suddenly realized that he was yelling, and lowered his voice down. "My powers were starting to act up again. I was at the docks when it happened. My hands began sparking with electricity. Geoff, I need you to help me learn how to control my powers."  
  
"Ash, look, I'll try to assist you, but in the end, you're gonna have to learn how to control your powers. I can't really explain this to you. I can give you some general tips, but in the end, you are the one who will have to find out what causes your powers to activate, and then you must learn how to trigger them whenever you get ready, and make them lie dormant when you don't need them. You're gonna have to experiment to find out just how much you can do, to find out your limits. This isn't something I can directly show you, like a parent show their child how to write the number 5, this is something you'll have to figure it out on your own, pretty much. I'll try giving you some tips, but that's all I can do," Geoff told him.  
  
Ash sighed, a bit dejected. "Can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Yeah, shoot," Geoff replied.  
  
"Was it hard to master your powers?"  
  
"On a scale rating, I'd give it about a 7/10, but that's just me. It could be easier for you to master your powers, or it could be harder. Tell you what, I'll talk to you about this in the morning, okay? I have something to do."  
  
"All right. See 'ya later, cuz," Ash said, then looked at the ocean waters. Geoff ran off, in search of someone.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Surge was relaxing in his hotel room, accompanied by Jason and Vicki. He was lying across a plush mattress on his back, staring at the ceiling. It was time for him to finally reclaim what should've been his. Tristan was no doubtly on the island, and Surge knew he had brought the Egyptian God Cards with him. Now, it was time to take them from him. Surge was simply have difficulty in figuring out the correct approach. Pure fighting would get him nowhere, and he had to learn that the hard way. He had fought with Tristan a few times in the past, but he never got close to getting his hands on those cards. So, now he was thinking of other ways to steal them from him. There had to be a way to gain an advantage point and he needed to find that way. It was the thing he was lacking, something to tip the fight in his favor. Maybe..... maybe that was it! Tristan had a pretty strong connection to his family and friends, so maybe if he were to abduct someone close to him, and threaten to kill them, he'd be more than willing to give up his two Egyptian God Cards in order to save said person's life... Surge's lips formed into a sinister smirk as he st up and looked at Jason and Vicki.  
  
"All right, guys, I finally got a plan!" he exclaimed, gaining their attention in the process.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
"Well, I'm finally here. Look out you sissy, I'm coming for you..." a masculine voice stated. A man was staring at Pegasus's holographic image which floated above his golden palace. He took of his cloak, revealing him to be Pegasus's brother, Duke. He started walking down the neon-lit street, heading toward Pegasus's palace.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Misty: 2500 LP | Sydney: 3800 LP  
  
Field Recap: Sydney has 1 Launcher Spider, 1 card face-down, and 1 Shield and Sword in play. Misty has 1 Masked Doll, and 1 card face-down.  
  
Launcher Spider (ATK: 2500 DEF: 2200) was currently dominating the field, and Misty had no monsters on the field. However, she still had a face-down card. It was her turn to move. She drew a card, and wound up with Suijin. [This is a pretty good card! I may not be able to take out Launcher Spider, but Sydney can't take out my Suijin either, unless she wants to lose her Launcher Spider in the process.]  
  
"Well, Misty? Are you gonna move or what?"  
  
"Oh, I'm moving, all right. I place one monster face-up in defense mode, and end my turn," she said while doing so. Suijin appeared in front of her.  
  
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2200  
  
Sydney drew a card from her deck, smirking afterwards. She slapped it onto the console. "This is great! I play another one of my 7 Completed magic cards to raise Launcher Spider's attack strength by 700 points!"  
  
ATK: 3200  
  
"With this kind of attack power, your Suijin won't be able to withstand this! Launcher Spider, Shock Rocket attack now!" Sydney yelled confidently. Her monster shot out numerous missiles, all aimed at Misty's defense monster.  
  
"Not so fast, Sydney! Suijin, raise Tidal Defense Shield now!" Misty snapped, and Sydney groaned in disgust. In all the excitement, she had forgotten about Suijin's special ability. A large wave of water rose up in front of Suijin; the missiles plundered into it full force, but they could not penetrate the shield.  
  
"Damn! I forgot Suijin could do that!" Sydney exclaimed.  
  
"And you're supposed to be the 5th best duelist in the world?" Misty sneered and drew another card from her deck. "Hmm... one monster card face- down, and that ends my turn."  
  
"Now I gotta alter my strategy. Thanks to Suijin, I can't just launch a direct attack. Everytime I try, my Launcher Spider's attack will be absorbed by Suijin's special ability. So, what do I do?" Sydney muttered to herself. She drew another card from her deck, but it couldn't help her. She chose to end her turn without playing anything.  
  
Misty drew another card, and smirked. "This oughta help me get at your life points! Allow me to play this card, Mask of the Accursed!" Sydney gasped, while Misty continued. "With this magic card, I can kill two birds with one stone! First, when my mask attach itself to your Launcher Spider, it will be rendered useless, and on top of that, you'll lose 500 life points every time your turn comes around, Sydney!"  
  
Misty's mask jumped out of the holocard and thrusted itself onto Launcher Spider. A red glow eminated around the monster, which meant the magic card was working. "No! Oh no! My Launcher Spider!" exclaimed Sydney.  
  
ATK: X DEF: X  
  
"Is totally useless, and since your turn have come around, you lose 500 life points!"  
  
Sydney's Life Points- 3300  
  
"All right, Misty, good move!" yelled Joey.  
  
[Grr... with Mask of the Accursed attached to my Launcher Spider, I can't attack with it, or defend with it for that matter. It's completely useless. And as long as that mask is on the field, I lose 500 life points every time my turn comes around. If I want to win, I gotta either find a way destroy that mask, or wrap up this duel quickly!] Sydney drew a card. "I place one card face-down, then I summon Labyrinth Tank, in defense mode!"  
  
ATK: 2400 DEF: 2400  
  
"Make your move."  
  
[It's highly possible that Sydney's face-down card is a trap of some sort. So, I shouldn't even waste my time attacking to find out, because I can still deal some damage to Sydney. Once I end my turn, Sydney is gonna lose 500 more life points, thanks to my mask.] "No move, I end my turn. Control goes back to you Syd, and you know what that means."  
  
Misty smirked as Sydney's life points dropped another 500 points. Now it was down to 2800 life points. "This is getting rather close, isn't it? You only have a 300 point lead over me, instead of a 1300 point lead."  
  
"Grr.." Sydney frowned as she drew another card and placed it face-down. "Labyrinth Tank, attack Misty's Suijin!" she ordered. Labyrinth Tank's spikes glowed a fiery red, then it shot out several red laser beams, all aimed at Suijin.  
  
"Suijin, raise Tidal Defense Shield!"  
  
"I knew you would try that! That's why I activate my Spellbinding Circle card to bind your monster, thus preventing it from using its Defense Shield! And it loses 700 attack points as well!" Sydney confirmed.  
  
ATK: 1800  
  
"Big deal! My Suijin is still in defense mode, which means your attack won't hurt my life points!"  
  
"Ha! That's about to change, Misty! Now I activate my other face-down card, Stop Defense! I think the name pretty much explains everything," Sydney announced. Misty gasped as Suijin switched to attack mode unwillingly. Labyrinth Tank's laser beams were suddenly intercepted as a blue creature made of plasma jumped out in front of Suijin and took the blow. It erupted into pieces, which began to reassemble themselves after it was destroyed.  
  
"What.... happened?" Sydney was puzzled.  
  
"Your Labyrinth Tank's attack was blocked by my indestructible creature, Revival Jam. Now, wit this adorable monster on the field, no matter how many times you come at my monsters, it will intercept every last one of your attacks, absorb it, then reassemble itself afterwards! Basically, I'm untouchable with this card on the field!" Misty told her.  
  
"This is bad news..." Sydney's voice trailed off.  
  
"And now, since I've got this invulnerable monster on the field, I end my turn."  
  
Sydney's Life Points- 2300  
  
Misty laughed. "Looky here! Your life points are below mine! And I thought this was impossible for me to achieve," she teased.  
  
"This isn't over, Misty! Labyrinth Tank, attack Revival Jam!" Sydney ordered.  
  
"Didn't you hear me before? Your attacks are futile because Revival Jam is invulnerable, meaning no attack of any kind can destroy it!" Misty reminded her. True to her word, Labyrinth Tank's laser beams struck the blob and blew it into tiny pieces, but they began to reform themselves immediately after the attack was done. Within moments, it was back again. "See what I mean? No matter how many time you come at it, you will never destroy it, Sydney! It's impossible! Thanks to my trap card Jam Defender, Revival Jam will keep coming back over and over again in a never-ending cycle. Well, I end my turn again, and you know what happens next," Misty smiled.  
  
Sydney's Life Points- 1800  
  
"Your life points are getting lower and lower, Sydney. I wouldn't like to be in your shoes right now."  
  
[What can I do? As long as Misty's Revival Jam/Jam Defender combo is on the field, none of my attacks can ever destroy it, or any other monster she has. It'll just keep coming back over and over again. And everytime my turn come around, I lose another 500 life points. Misty isn't even drawing cards anymore. All she does is pass control to me so I can automatically lose 500 life points, thanks to her blasted Mask of the Accursed. There's nothing I can do... Misty has me pinned in a corner, and I can't escape. My only options is to concede the duel,] Sydney thought to herself. She reluctantly placed her hand over her deck, signifying that she forfeit.  
  
"You're forfeiting?" Misty was slightly surprised.  
  
"You pulled a fast one on me, Misty. You got me right where you wanted me and there's nothing I can do to gain control of the duel. It's better to forfeit than to delay the inevitable," Sydney replied.  
  
"And it appears that Sydney has thrown in the towel, meaning that Misty Chase wins the duel!!" the announcer announced. The audience gave Misty some warm cheers.  
  
"All right, Misty! Good job!!" Joey shouted. Misty and Sydney powered down their duel disks. The two women showed good sportmanship and shook hands with each other.  
  
[This is great! I'm one step closer to saving my sisters. Once I win this tournament, I can pay that stupid bitch so she can search for a cure. Hang on Daisy, Lily, Violet. I won't let you down,] Misty thought to herself as she boarded the teleporter tile and prepared to teleport back to the Duelists Prepping Area outside the dome.  
  
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Episode Written by: GateGuardian3500.  
  
Sorry it took so long. I get so busy that it's hard to find time to write this. But, look on the bright side, at least I didn't COMPLETELY abandon you guys, right? I still post episodes whenever I can! Thanks again for sticking with me, waiting out these long waits. Well, I can say that this season is about to come to a close. There aren't many episodes left to write. I'll be wrapping everything up very soon. I'm still pondering the idea of doing a Second Season of this fic. Perhaps I will, if you ask enough. I do have a lot of possible ideas floating around in my head, so if I decide to do another season of this book, it will be a good one, and it won't be boring. So, do you guys want to see 'Duelists of the Future, Season 2'? E-mail me with your answer. I hope you enjoyed this episode! Goodbye for now! 


	18. Episode 18, 'Boiling Point'

I'm back again! Wow... it's been nearly a year since I first posted this, and I haven't finished yet. It's kinda sad, if I do say so myself, but I simply didn't have a lot of time to write ever since May 2003 came around. Fortunately, this season is coming to a close!There is only two episodes left after this! I'm so thrilled! These last episodes are going to be very exciting, I guarantee you. And after they are done, I'll start writing Season 2! I hope you enjoyed this season, and I hope you enjoy the last few episodes! Thanks to all who gave this fic a chance! I really appreciate it!  
  
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Duelists of The Future - Season 1 (2002-2003) - Episode 18, "Boiling Point" (11/6/2003)  
  
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The sun shone brightly in the partly cloudy skies. The Crystal Kingdom Championship was well underway. The island was bustling with activity as people walked the streets, visiting all the exciting places the island had to offer. At Pegasus's castle, however, it was much more quiet. The only people around here were guards only, no civilians were allowed. It was even more desolate in the dungeons located underground. The dungeons is where Pegasus's "guests of honor" resided. His current "guest of honor", Morty, was still in the cell, being kept alive by a feeding tube which fed him everything he needed. Pegasus still hadn't got the Millenium Key from him, and Morty wasn't about to tell him the secret. The Millenium Key had been passed down through the generations of his family for several centuries, and he wasn't about to disrupt a family tradition by letting Pegasus take the key.  
  
Footsteps could be heard in the hallway, and Morty already knew who was coming. It was nobody other than Pegasus. Sure enough, Morty's guess was correct. Pegasus ordered a nearby guard to lower the force field, then walked inside the cell, grinning sinisterly.  
  
"Well, hello there, Morty. We meet again," he greeted with open arms.  
  
Morty rolled his eyes. "Don't play nice with me, prick. Just cut straight to the point. I already know why you're down here, and the answer is the same as before: No," he stated bluntly.  
  
"Morty, why can't you just give it up? I promise, I won't keep it forever. I just need to borrow it for a short while, then I'll return it to you."  
  
"I seriously hope you don't think I'm falling for that, because I'm not, and if you were expecting me to, you're even sadder than I thought," Morty quipped.  
  
"I didn't think you would agree to that, but I do know that in a few moments, your key will be mine," Pegasus announced in a matter-of-factly fashion.  
  
"Oh yeah? And why do you think that?"  
  
Pegasus whistled loudly, then a few seconds passed before three guards came strolling into the room, dragging a restrained and unconscious woman with them. Morty's eyes immediately bucked open as he looked on in disbelief. "Recognize her, Morty?" he asked.  
  
"Jasmine!" he called, then turned his head in the direction of Pegasus. "You evil bitch! What did you do to her?!" he demanded to know.  
  
"Nothing... yet," Pegasus replied maliciously. "Here's the deal, Morty: If you don't agree to hand me that Millenium Key, then I'm afraid I'll have to subject Jasmine to a wide array of vicious assaults. You wouldn't want your woman to go through all that, would you?"  
  
Morty frowned and growled angrily as Pegasus continued. "But, if you do agree to hand me the Millenium Key, I'll release both you and Jasmine. I'll allow you some time to think it over," Pegasus told him, then started to walk away with the guards, who still had Jasmine.  
  
The Millenium Key wasn't nearly as imporant than his girlfriend. "No, wait! I'll give it to you, now!!" Morty yelled with haste.  
  
"I think it'd be best if you wisely considered your options. In the meantime, I'm gonna have me some fun... with Jasmine," Pegasus announced and cackled evily.  
  
"NOOO!!!! Don't!!!" Morty shouted desperately, but Pegasus and the guards walked away, with Jasmine in tow. The force field raised back up, and there was nothing Morty could do. "Shit!!!" he cursed angrily. He tried snatching himself off the wall, but to no avail.  
  
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Mai walked down one of the busy avenues, getting a few glances from male passerbys. She adored the attention, but she didn't stop and talk to none of them. Her high heel boots clacked against the sidewalk as she walked along, sucking on a blowpop. She was heading to one of the expensive hotel resorts on the beach, Radisson Resort, to be exact. That was where Geoff resided. Mai didn't think she would become such good friends with the guy. The night they shared, it was only supposed to be a one-night-stand. After she got done screwing him, they'd part ways, and she'd never see him again. But, he turned out to be quite the charmer, and quite the gentleman. Mai didn't see this coming in a million years. Lately, he was the one thing on her mind, for the most part. Was it possible that she was.... falling in love with him? He was cute, and he was nice, and good to her too. A very friendly guy that she couldn't seem to forget was Geoff. A smile began to form across her lips, but it instantly dissappeared when a familiar person approached her.  
  
"Hey, Mai." It was Tori, who again managed to show up at the most annoying time. At least he had the decency to be fully clothed in her presence, unlike last time.  
  
"What do you want?" she asked while throwing her blonde hair behind her.  
  
"I just came back from a nearby hospital."  
  
"Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, and my checkup confirms that. I just got a call from the boss. He thought it was a good idea if we headed down to the hospital to get ourselves all checked out, just to make sure we didn't contract any viruses or other sicknesses. I came to relay the suggestion to you, and I think it's a good idea if you get yourself examined," Tori informed her.  
  
"For what? Nothing's wrong with me," Mai responded matter-of-factly.  
  
"But you don't know that. There could be some kind of sickness slowly creeping up on you. You never know," Tori said.  
  
"Nothing's wrong with me, Tori. If it was, I'd know."  
  
"C'mon, Mai, just go do it to confirm that you're fine."  
  
"Tori, I know there's nothing wrong with me. Now, if you'll excuse me I have something to do," Mai told him, then started walking away.  
  
"Mai," Tori called while walking after her. "What will it hurt? What's wrong with going to get a checkup, just to make sure that everything's fine? (voice lowers) You don't want something to come up while you're on the mission, do you?"  
  
Mai sighed heavily. "Fine, fine. It couldn't hurt. I'll do it, but don't tag along," she chimed and walked off.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't," Tori assured her. "I already got a check up," he added, then turned and walked across the street to the other side.  
  
Mai caught a shuttle bus which took her to the nearest hospital. When it arrived, she stepped out, then headed toward the front entrance. The doors slid open for her, and she continued through. Eventually, she found a doctor to give her a quick checkup. The doctor lead her to a quiet, sparsely decorated room, then instructed her to sit down in a chair, which she did. The doctor pulled a scanning device out of his coat, then activated it. He pointed it at Mai. An orange light flashed across her briefly before vanishing. The doctor observed the results showing up on the screen.  
  
"Well, how am I?" Mai inquired.  
  
"Oh, physically, everything's fine. You're in good shape. Your blood pressure's normal, you're not overweight, or underweight, you're not suffering from any cardiovascular problems or anything like that. You're fine, physically. However, you are pregnant, about one week along, to be exact," he informed her rather bluntly. For a few seconds, Mai stared in space, too stunned to say anything, or even express her feelings. Afterwards, shock spread across Mai's face. She was thrown by this unexpected, overwhelming news. She was pregnant! She was unable to say anything, for she was at a loss of words. How could she be pregnant? (BTW, due to advances in technology, doctors were now able to detect pregnacies far earlier than before)  
  
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Joey and Misty walked along the beach of Crystal Kingdom. Gentle winds blew against them slightly, and the ocean waters were calm, with a few gentle waves forming every now and then. They were talking about various things. "Oh, Misty, you dueled great! That was awesome, how you cornered Sydney by playing Revival Jam/Jam Defender with that Mask of Accursed. There was nothing she could do!" Joey complimented Misty.  
  
"Thanks, Joey."  
  
"You're welcome. Heh, with 'dem strategies you played, you have a good chance at winning the tournament and getting the prize money. Just keep hangin' on, Misty. You can do it," Joey encouraged her.  
  
Misty smiled and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. "Thanks, again. So, how come you're so optimistic?" she wondered.  
  
"Hey, optimism is the key to success. If you set your mind to something, and believe you can do it, trust me, you can do it. Optimism works for me all the time."  
  
"All the time, Joey?" Misty looked at him.  
  
He grinned sheepishly. "Well, most of the time. But hey, pessimism will do nothing but bring you failure. If you think negatively all the time and don't believe you can do something, chances are you'll actually fail, because you'll worry so much about failure, you won't be concentrating on success, and instead, you'll wind up failing. Focusing on success is the key to success," Joey told her.  
  
"Please give my brain time to digest that run-on sentence," Misty joked, making Joey laugh. She laughed herself, then continued. "But, I do understand what you're saying, Joey. (slight pause in conversation) I don't know why, but it seems like you always know the best thing to say to someone, and exactly when to say it. It's one of the qualities I like most about you," Misty commented.  
  
"Now it's my turn to thank you," Joey returned with a smile.  
  
"You're welcome," she replied, and grinned.  
  
Out in the ocean, someone slowly emerged from the blue waters. It was Ronnie (who was wearing red swim trunks). After finding out that Misty was heading to Crystal Kingdom, he immediately went to a nearby Voodoo shop, purchased ingredients necessary for a Locator Spell, then used the spell to locate Misty's current location. The spell lead him to the Crystal Kingdom, of course, and he had been keeping a watchful eye on her. Ronnie rubbed water out of his eyes to help clear his vision, fixated his eyes on Joey and Misty, then began to watch them carefully.  
  
"You know, Misty, I really like your hairstyle. Those curls in your hair (which is shoulder-length), it looks great on you," Joey complimented her once again.  
  
"Thanks, yet again," returned Misty, then she went on to say,"You know, you're looking great yourself. I..." Misty was cut off as Joey suddenly grabbed her, whirled her around so she could face him, then plunked a passionate kiss on her lips. She was very surprised at first, and made no motion to return the kiss. But she calmed down and began to return the favor. Both of them began french kissing each other passionately, obviously enjoying one another's presence, and kisses, for that matter.  
  
Ronnie saw this and glared. Jealously and hatred for Joey burned it his eyes. [You blonde punk-ass. You think you can steal my girl, don't you? She's my bitch, not yours, but my bitch!] he exclaimed to himself. His eyebrows frowned as the jealousy increased ten-fold. [You haven't gotten away with this. She's mine, and I'm not sharing her with anyone else. This isn't over... I'll be back...] Ronnie sunk back under the surface, then swam away, leaving a trail of bubbles behind him as he swam.  
  
Misty and Joey, oblivious to the fact that Ronnie had just been watching them, continued kissing each other, neither making any motion to stop.  
  
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Meanwhile, the tournament was still going on strong. Many duelists were getting eliminated in the preliminary round. Those that are victors earned themselves a secure spot in the second round of the tournament. At Dome 2, another duel was brewing, involving Geoff Okasinski. Recognized as the third best duelist of the world, Geoff had many avid fans, and a lot of rivals. Several duelists also envied his dueling skills, but this did not bother him. Geoff didn't care about the jealous duelists who hated him and his skills. All he cared about was the popularity, and the fun. Geoff had many fans in the audience giving him their loudest cheers as he teleported onto the stage, wielding a powered up Duel Disk on his right arm. He waved to the fans, then awaited his challenger, who was a young, thirteen year- old kid named Tommy. Tommy was a fan of Geoff himself, and he considered himself very lucky to be squaring off against him in a tournament match. He teleported onto the stage, also equipped with a powered up Duel Disk. He stared at his idol and grinned. He always dreamed what it would be like to face-off with one of the best duelists ever.  
  
[And now I'm about to find out,] the spiky, blonde-haired boy thought to himself.  
  
Both shuffled their decks, and the duel begun.  
  
Geoff: 4000 LP | Tommy: 4000 LP  
  
"Well, I guess I'll make the first move," Geoff said as he drew five cards from his deck. He looked them over and smirked. He pulled up three of them. "I set two cards face-down, then I'll place one monster face-down in defense mode," he said while doing so. Three face-down holocards materialized in front of him. "Your turn."  
  
"Okay, here goes," muttered Tommy as he drew five cards from his deck, forming his hand. Looking out over the field, he began to formulate a strategy. Chances are at least one of Geoff's two face-down cards was a trap, but they might've been there to scare him and stop him from attacking his defense monster. The defense monster itself could've had somekind of special ability Geoff could trigger. Tommy made sure to analyze every possible detail before making a move.  
  
"I place two monsters, Beast of Gilfer, and Celtic Guardian, both in defense mode," he spoke. The two monsters appeared in front of him in a defensive stance.  
  
(Celtic Guardian) ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200 | (Beast of Gilfer) ATK: 2200 DEF: 2500  
  
"And that ends my turn."  
  
"Very well," Geoff chimed and drew another card, which turned out being the Head of Exodia. "I pass control back to you, Tommy."  
  
"What?" Tommy was slightly surprised, but he quickly regained his composure and drew another card. He wasn't sure what Geoff was planning, but whatever it was, he had to be ready for it. There was a reason why Geoff was playing such peculiar moves. "I'll summon Mystical Elf, also in defense mode," Tommy stated. The monster appeared on the field a few seconds afterwards.  
  
ATK: 800 DEF: 2000  
  
"Your turn, Geoff."  
  
"Okey-dokey," said Geoff as he drew another card. He chuckled, then said, "I choose to end my turn without making a move."  
  
"What?" Tommy was now confused. Why did he keep ending his turns like this? It was almost as if Geoff was waiting for him to attack, so he could spring a trap card on him. But he was not about to fall for that. Drawing a card, Tommy placed it face-down in the magic/trap zone, then ended his turn. Geoff drew a card (which was the Left Arm of Exodia), then ended his turn again. Growing frustrated, Tommy decided to play Geoff's game. He drew a card (Alpha the Magnet Warrior), then ended his turn as well.  
  
Geoff frowned. [Damn, Tommy's not placing any more monster cards down. Oh well, I guess I'll go ahead and execute my strategy.] Geoff drew a card, but it wasn't a piece of Exodia. He shrugged and added it to his hand. "All right, Tommy, you want me to make a move, I'll make a move! I activate my face-down card, Just Desserts!"  
  
A huge gasp sounded from Tommy as his eyes bucked. Geoff continued, "With Just Desserts, I can inflict 500 points of direct damage for every single monster you have on the field!" he announced. A pair of transparent hands reached out of the holocard and wrapped around Tommy, then electric energy surrounded him.  
  
Tommy's Life Points - 2500  
  
"Next, I'll rid the field of every creature you have! Activate Thunderbolt!" Geoff yelled. Tommy watched in shock as thunder roared ominously. Geoff's magic card began to dispel several lightning bolts, each striking a monster and obliterating them. There was no monsters left to defend him!  
  
"And with no monsters left to defend you, I am free to attack your life points directly! I switch my defense monster into attack mode!" The holocard rotated into a face-up position, then glowed white as Tri-Horned Dragon emerged from it, taking an offensive stance.  
  
ATK: 2800 DEF: 2350  
  
"Now, attack Tommy's life points directly!!" Geoff commanded. His monster reared back and prepared to finish off the thirteen-year old.  
  
"Uh-oh, it looks as if it could be all over for Tommy! Tommy doesn't have enough life points to withstand a powerful attack from Geoff's Tri-Horned Dragon! Unless he has a back-up plan, it's all over for him!" yelled the spectator.  
  
Tri-Horned Dragon gathered a huge ball of flames in its mouth, then fired it at Tommy with a blazing force. Tommy quickly activated his face-down card, Dian Keto the Cure Master, which reinforced his life points by 1000.  
  
Tommy's Life Points - 3500  
  
Then he was struck by the fireball. He shielded himself and screamed, trying not to fall over from the amazing force of the fireball. Eventually the ball dissipated, and Tommy sighed heavily.  
  
Tommy's Life Points - 700  
  
"Whoa! Will you look at that? Thanks to Geoff's brilliant strategy, Tommy is now down to a scarce 700 life points, while Geoff is still at 4000. If it hadn't been for that magic card, he would've been blown right out of the tournament here and now! But, one question remains: Can Tommy turn the duel around?"  
  
"I doubt it," Geoff answered the spectator confidently.  
  
"We'll see about that," Tommy spoke up. "I may be down to 700 life points, but this duel isn't over until it's over. I still got 700 life points, and as long as I have life points, I remain in the game."  
  
"Well, by all means, make your move," Geoff suggested.  
  
Tommy drew a card from his deck. It was Pot of Greed, so he played it and drew two more cards from his deck. He looked them over, then started to make his move. "I play one monster card face-up, in defense mode, then I'll play another card face-down," Tommy spoke while plopping the cards onto slots. Two holocards appeared in front of him, and one spawned another Mystical Elf, in defense mode.  
  
ATK: 800 DEF: 2000  
  
"Hmm... I would attack you, but you've played a card face-down, and it could be a trap..."  
  
"How do you know it's a trap?" Tommy interjected, "It could be there just to stop you from attacking me, and I'd say it's working. You're too scared to attack my monster."  
  
"I'm not scared to do anything, Tommy. I'm thinking strategically," Geoff spat, then drew a card from his deck. [Perfect! The Left Leg of Exodia! When I draw the Right Arm and Right Leg, this duel will be over instantly!] "For now, I'll simply end my turn without making a move," he stated.  
  
Control shifted to Tommy, who proceeded to draw a card. It was Beta the Magnet Warrior, and he added it to his hand. "Now, I'll activate my face- down card, Castle Walls, which will reinforce Mystical Elf's defense power by 500!"  
  
A beam of white light shot out of the holocard and landed in front of the Mystical Elf. Brown, brick walls began rising around her, and her defensive strength began to power up as well.  
  
DEF: 2500  
  
"Ha! You mean that's all you had waiting was Castle Walls? Even with the extra defense power, my Tri-Horned Dragon still has enough attack power to destroy your monster! Tri-Horned Dragon, attack with Dark Fireball!!" Geoff ordered, and his dragon complied. It powered up a large, dark red fireball in its mouth, then hurled it at Mystical Elf. Without warning, however, the dragon's attack strength suddenly dipped.  
  
(Tri-Horned Dragon) ATK: 2300  
  
"What the hell?! What's going on?!" Geoff yelled in confusement.  
  
"All right, my plan worked! You fell into my trap Geoff!" Tommy exclaimed as the fireball rammed into the wall and exploded, but when the smoke cleared, the wall was still standing, as well as the Mystical Elf, who was completely unharmed. She successfully withstood the attack.  
  
"How the fuck did my dragon's attack strength drop 500 points?!"  
  
"Allow me to explain, Geoff. When you used your Thunderbolt to destroy all my monsters, you destroyed my Beast of Gilfer in the process. And Beast of Gilfer has a special ability. Whenever it is sent to the graveyard, I can activate the aforementioned special ability, which drains the attack strength of any monster I choose by 500. And I chose to drain your Tri- Horned Dragon, Geoff. Your failed attack costs you 200 life points," Tommy finished.  
  
Geoff's Life Points - 3800  
  
Geoff was amazed, but he quickly shrugged it off. "Nice strategy, Tommy, but I still have the upper hand. You still trail me by over 3000 life points. Before you manage to tie the score, I will have released something that'll obliterate any chance you have of actually winning. Nothing in your deck can withstand it," Geoff stated defiantly.  
  
Tommy gulped silently. He wasn't sure what Geoff was talking about now, but he was certain he didn't want to find out. The Castle Walls dissappeared, and Mystical Elf's defense strength dropped back down to 2000. He drew a card from his deck, but it wasn't what he wanted. [Shit! I don't need this right now!] he thought. "I choose to end my turn without doing anything."  
  
Geoff drew a card from his deck. It wasn't an Exodia piece, so he simply added it to his hand. "My Tri-Horned Dragon may have lost some of its strength, but it's still strong enough to destroy Mystical Elf! Attack now!"  
  
As soon as Geoff gave the order, Tri-Horned Dragon shot a blast of fire out of it mouth. Mystical Elf screeched as the fiery explosion fried it into oblivion. There wasn't a trace of the monster left when the attack was finished. Tommy frowned and reached out to draw a card. If he didn't get a monster card, Geoff would finish him because there was no monsters on the field to defend him from attacks. On the other hand, if he didn't get a monster, he could play one out of his hand, but that would ruin his plan. Pulling the card up to his face, he sighed a sigh of relief, then slapped the card onto a slot. "Water Omotics, in defense mode!" In a flash of brilliant lights, Water Omotics materialized onto the field in front of Tommy.  
  
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200  
  
Geoff drew yet another card, but frowned when it turned out not to be an Exodia piece. "Tri-Horned Dragon, destroy Water Omotics!"  
  
Tri-Horned Dragon roared before firing another huge fireball. It impacted with Water Omotics and exploded on contact. A scream from Water Omotics was heard for a brief moment, then its shattered pieces could be seen erupting out of the smoke. Tommy frowned, then reached out to draw a new card. Upon getting it, he smirked.  
  
"Just what I needed! All right, Geoff, your Tri-Horn Dragon is finished! (draws two more cards out of hand) First, I play Alpha, Beta, and Gamma the Magnet Warriors, all in attack mode!" Tommy slammed three cards down. The three magent warriors appeared side by side, standing on their respective holocards.  
  
(Alpha) ATK: 1400 DEF: 1700 | (Beta) ATK: 1700 DEF: 1600 | (Gamma) ATK: 1500 DEF: 1800)  
  
"And now... with three magnet warriors on the field, I can activate their special ability, Monster Transform!" Tommy shouted, forcing Geoff to buck his eyes in the process. Everyone's eyes were locked on the duel as Alpha's body broke down into separate parts. Beta and Gamma's bodies did the same thing, then the individual parts began hooking together to form one, brand- new creature. A large metal warrior that looked like a fusion of Gamma, Alpha, and Beta was created, and electrical energy shot out in various directions when it took a stance.  
  
"Behold, Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior!" Tommy announced proudly.  
  
ATK: 3500 DEF: 3850  
  
"Oh shit, that monster's attack strength is much greater than Tri-Horned Dragon's, and to make matters worse, I have nothing on the field to stop its attack!" Geoff acknowledged, then proceeded to scold himself mentally.  
  
"Now.. Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior, attack Tri-Horned Dragon!!" Tommy yelled while sticking his fist out at Tri-Horned Dragon; a huge smirk formed on his face. This would be sweet... Valkyrion's steel sword began flowing with electrical energy as it flew toward Tri-Horned Dragon. Arriving it striking distance, it reared back and sliced down the dragon's midsection, cutting a deep hole. Tri-Horned Dragon roared in pain as the electrical energy flowed into its body and shocked it severely. Suddenly, it exploded from the inside out.  
  
"Your dragon has been destroyed!"  
  
Geoff's Life Points - 2600  
  
"Ha! Like I said, it ain't over 'till it's over, Geoff! I'm not going down without a fight!" Tommy told him with confidence.  
  
Geoff smiled. "I must admit, you are a pretty good opponent. You're definitely the best thirteen year-old duelist I've faced off against in my dueling career. You should be proud of yourself," he complimented.  
  
"Uh.. thank you," Tommy returned with a friendly smile. Then his demeanor became serious again. "Now, let's finish this duel."  
  
"You're on!"  
  
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Meanwhile, back on Emerald Island, Brock was resting peacefully in the medical clinic. Not much had happened to him regarding mutations, fortunately. The doctors were as baffled as ever, and were still running tests in order to try figuring out what was causing the mutations. Brock knew they couldn't do anything, though. This was something beyond technology. This was a supernatural problem, so chances were only something supernatural could fix it. Unfortunately, Brock didn't know where to go to get any help. Shifting onto his side, Brock sighed heavily and decided to think about something else. He wondered how Tristan was doing. Was he performing well in the tournament? He probably was, after all, he had two powerful Egyptian God Cards to help him. Aside from the duelists that also had a rare Egyptian God Card, there wasn't any duelists that could beat him. If there was a duelist that could defeat him, they'd have to be a VERY skilled duelist. Brock hoped that Tristan could win the tournament and the prize money. If Tristan used the money to help pay for Flint's surgeries, he would be very pleased. It would mean a lot to him if Tristan did that for him. Brock rolled onto his back, then sat up. Climbing out of bed, he walked over to a small bathroom and entered it. Since he was staying in the hospital for a while, he got a bathroom with a shower installed, which would take care of his hygiene. Preparing to pull off his boxer shorts, Brock stopped when he heard a noise coming from the bedroom. Frowning, he walked back into the bedroom, and there stood a nurse.  
  
"Hey, you're up," she chirped as she approached him.  
  
"Uh... do I know you?" Brock asked, slightly confused.  
  
"Oh, I'm Nurse Stevens. I came to check up on you," she replied.  
  
"What happened to Nurse Richards?"  
  
"Oh, Nurse Richards? Well, she's come down with a bad case of Influenza B, so I have to take her place until she's well enough to come back. Don't worry, I won't harm you. Now, it's best that you get a lot of rest, so how about we march over to the bed and climb in, okay?" she suggested in a friendly manner.  
  
"But I was about to shower," Brock informed her.  
  
"Oh! Silly me," she chuckled. "Well, before you do, allow me to check your temperature right quick. You've been getting several fevers over the last week."  
  
"I don't really feel hot, nurse. I'm okay," he answered.  
  
"Well, we don't wanna take any chances, do we? Fevers don't necessarily have to stay at 101 degrees. Sometimes they get so bad that they can cook a person's insides. And we don't want that to happen, now do we?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Thought so. Now, come take a seat on the bed and I'll take your temperature," the nurse spoke. Brock complied and strolled over to the bed, climbing into it upon arrival. He positioned himself so that his legs was dangling off the side of the bed. The nurse approached him, preparing to take his temperature. She suddenly pulled out a needle filled with sedative and stuck it into Brock's shoulder, which immediately began to make him drowsy. He moaned as he dropped off the bed and onto the floor, unconscious. A few men entered the room, then walked over and picked up the unconscious male. They had been standing outside the entire time, waiting for the "nurse" to make her move.  
  
"Did it really take all that dumb acting? You could've just stuck the prick the moment he came out of the bathroom," one of them quipped while getting a better grip on Brock.  
  
"Well, it fooled him, didn't it? Now, stop bitching and get the prick back to Surge," the nurse in disguise barked.  
  
The masked figures escaped out of the room via a window, with Brock in tow...  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Duke, hands in pants pockets, walked down the street, heading to Pegasus's Palace. It was about time he got revenge for everything Pegasus put him through. He took his invention from him, stole his girlfriend, and a lot of other things. And he was gonna pay. Duke wouldn't rest until Pegasus was six feet under... Something caught Duke's eye and snatched him out of his thoughts abruptly.  
  
"Hunh? Is that..." his voice trailed off as he watched who was walking toward him. It was Ash. What was he doing here? Duke was surprised to see him, but quickly regained his composure and approached Ash.  
  
"Ashton Ketchum?" he called, gaining Ash's attention. Ash looked at him, one eyebrow raised.  
  
"Who are you? How the hell do you know my name?" Ash inquired rather hostily.  
  
"Look," Duke began, "I need to talk to you. I gotta tell you something, and I need to tell you..."  
  
"I don't have time for games. Who are you, and what the fuck do you want with me?" Ash snapped.  
  
Duke was taken aback at Ash's icy hostility, but he shrugged it off. "Listen, my name is Duke. What do I want with you, you ask?" Duke let out a sigh. "I don't wanna take too much time with this. I also don't wanna be too blunt, but I guess I don't have much of a choice, considering the fact that you're not very talkative at the moment. Okay, Ash, you may not believe this, but... I'm your father..." Duke announced. He stared at Ash, who's facial expression was unreadible.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Misty slowly pulled out of Joey's lovely kiss. She was still pretty astounded. She didn't think Joey felt that way for her, but she was certainly pleased that he did feel romantic feelings for her. She had a secret crush on Joey for a long time, but was too scared to make a move. Obviously, he wasn't. She looked up into Joey's eyes, which seemed to tell her that he loved her. She smiled, then brushed some strands of her orangish-red hair out of her face.  
  
Joey stared at her; he seemed to be entranced by her beauty. Misty was such a magnificent girl. She was absolutely gorgeous, and Joey couldn't express the joy bottled within. He was overwhelmed by happy emotions. She actually liked him! Joey thought she was going to push away, and ask him what was he doing. But instead, she returned the kiss... much to his extreme delight. His smile grew even bigger as he gently rubbed his hand down her face. He began to speak in a soft, gentle tone of voice.  
  
"Damn, that kiss was good, and hot damn.. you are gorgeous," he commented softly.  
  
Misty couldn't help smiling. "Thank you, Joey,"' she answered. The two of them began to lean into another kiss.  
  
Unbeknownst to them, Ronnie had returned. He had to see if they were still carrying on with their sappy kissing. He slowly emerged from under the surface of the ocean, and saw them leaning into another kiss. Bitter jealously burned in his eyes. He was not about to let Joey get away with this. Misty was his girl! His bitch! And this lanky, blonde punk-ass was not going to take her from him... Joey was definitely going to get punished for doing this...  
  
The two kissed for awhile, then they slowly pulled out of it. They stared at one another for a while, before Misty interrupted their moment of silence with speech. "Well, Joey, I really like this, but I have to go."  
  
"Go? Go where?" he wondered.  
  
"To visit a friend of mine. I need to ask a favor," Misty said.  
  
"A favor? What kind of favor? Hey, I can help you. Just name it, I'll help you with anything," Joey offered, but Misty shook her head.  
  
"No, you can't help me with this, Joey. This had something to do with my sisters. Look, I'll catch you later, okay?"  
  
Joey sighed, a bit reluctant to see Misty leave. But, he knew he couldn't stop her. "Okay. But, promise me that you'll come see at my hotel room later tonight, a'ight? I won't let you leave until you promise me that," he told her, but it was in a friendly manner, not a bossy one.  
  
"I promise," Misty replied, smiling afterwards. Joey smiled back at her, then watched her as she walked away. He stared at her fine body as she grew smaller and smaller, until she was out of his eyesight. He sighed, then decided to leave the beach himself. After all, it wouldn't be long before his first duel, and he thought some practice with Yugi was a good idea. He started to walk away, but a voice stopped him.  
  
"Hey!" a man's voice shouted. He turned around to see a large, tall, well- built man in red swim trunks approaching him.  
  
"You addressing me?" Joey asked.  
  
"Yeah. I was uh, wondering if you knew where a pizza restaurant was," he requested.  
  
"Um, no, I ain't got a clue," Joey responded.  
  
"Oh. Well, would you happen to know about a bitch with orange-looking red hair, she goes by the name of Misty Chase?" Ronnie asked in a threatening manner.  
  
Joey frowned at him. "Hey, what'd you just say?!"  
  
"You heard me, you punk-ass bitch! In case you didn't know, Misty has already got herself a boyfriend, and that boyfriend is me!"  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?! Misty isn't seeing anyone!"  
  
"Oh, that's what she wants you to believe. That bitch wants you to think she's single, but she isn't! Me and her, we're an item, and I'm not about to stand back while you take her from me!!" Ronnie screamed and lunged for Joey. He threw three punches at him, all of which Joey dodged. Joey tried countering with a kick to the head, but Ronnie ducked to evade the blow. Upon rising, Ronnie blocked four of Joey's punches, then flipped into the air, avoiding a low sweep kick. When Ronnie landed, Joey continued his offensive assault by throwing several jabs at Ronnie's jaw, all of which Ronnie blocked. Joey tried roundhouse kicking him, but Ronnie intercepted the blow by grabbing his foot. Ronnie punched Joey's ankle as hard as he could, making Joey yelp in pain. He pushed Joey back, hoping he would fall, but Joey managed to keep his balance. Joey dodged three kicks from Ronnie, but couldn't move fast enough to dodge the fourth, which landed in his stomach. He hunched over in pain, unwillingly giving Ronnie an advantage point. Ronnie snatched Joey into an upright position, then laid into him with several brutal punches to the stomach and chest, then delivered a roundhouse kick which made Joey fall onto the ground. Ronnie reached down and grabbed Joey by his neck, then pulled him up.  
  
"No one ever tries to steal Misty away from me without being punished, you prick. You just tried, and now you're gonna suffer the consequences.."  
  
"The only person whose gonna be suffering consequences is you!" Joey retorted, then spit up some blood, which flew into Ronnie's eye. Ronnie yelled while releasing Joey from his grip. He grabbed his eye and growled, enraged. He yelled while charging for Joey, fist raised into the air. Joey easily dodged the shot, then countered by roundhouse punching Ronnie across the face. His next punch was stopped by Ronnie, who grabbed his wrist. Ronnie twisted his wrist, causing to make cracking noises.  
  
"Aah!!" Joey screamed. Ronnie mustered up some strength and triple kicked Joey in the nose (A Triple kick is three consecutive kicks all at once). Joey stumbled backwards, lost his footing and fell down, blood trickling out of his mouth and nose. Ronnie snatched him up by his hair, then delivered one mighty blow to his forehead. Joey's eyes rolled up in his head as he fell onto his back, unconscious.  
  
"You motherfuckin' prick. No one gets away with trying to steal Misty from me. She's gonna be my bitch for eternity, and there's nothing you can do to change it. Heh, I can't wait to subject you to the punishment I have planned for you," he spoke sinisterly. His lips slowly curved into a smile as he cackled maliciously. He grabbed Joey's limp arms, then said something in an unknown tongue. Suddenly, the two men dissappeared...  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Maximillion Pegasus walked down the halls of his palace, smirking evily. He was proud of his accomplishments today. What made him swell with pride even more is what he had just done moments ago. It was one of the most enjoyable things he had ever done in his life. Torturing Jasmine was very fun, and with Jasmine as a bargaining chip, the Millenium Key would be in his hands very soon.  
  
[I'll check to see if Morty's ready to cooperate later today. Right now, there's something else I need to do,] he thought to himself. Pegasus walked down the hall until he reached the telelporter square. Stepping onto it, he set the coordinates to his Rooftop Observatory which was reserved for him and him only. No guards could set foot on the observatory level, unless he called for them. The teleporter activated, warping him to his observatory. The observatory was on the very top of the palace. It was outside, and it offered a spectacular view of the concrete jungle (the city) below, as well as a great view of the ocean surrounding the island. When he reappeared, he stepped off the tile, and walked pass the patio area, heading toward a large pool with jacuzzi features built into it. He immediately noticed something. The jacuzzi features had been turned on. But who turned it on? His guards was not allowed to come onto the observatory, unless he called for them. So who dared to barge onto his observatory, without permission, and use his jacuzzi/pool?  
  
"If it's a guard, I will capture their soul," he said quietly to himself. Maximillion took soft, slow steps toward the pool in order to minimize the sounds of his footsteps. He crept toward the pool as quietly as he possibly could. Maximillion hoped the noise the water was making would help to mask the sounds of his footsteps as he approached the pool. Thanks to all the bubbles on the surface of the pool, he couldn't tell if someone was underneath the surface or not. He strolled over to the side of the pool. There was a switch on the ground, which toggled the jacuzzi feature on and off. He started to manually turn the jacuzzi feature off, but two hands suddenly reached out of the pool, grabbed his legs, then pulled back, snatching him toward the pool.  
  
"Whoa!" he screamed before splashing into the pool. Under the surface was a naked Sakura, who proceeded to try stripping him of his clothing. He pushed her hands away and tried returning to the surface for air. However, she grabbed his leg and pulled him down, bringing them face-to-face. She grinned seductively before she made another attempt at taking off his clothes. He pushed her hands away again, then swam up toward the surface of the water quickly. He surfaced, taking in breaths of air. Sakura emerged from the water, taking in oxygen herself.  
  
"Sakura, what the hell are you doing here?!" Pegasus yelled at her. "How... how did you even get up here?! How did you get past security?!"  
  
"I have my ways," she responded calmly, then smirked. "After all this time apart, I am finally in your presence again, Maximillion. Oh, I've missed you so," she told him.  
  
Pegasus stared at her in disbelief. "How dare you just barge onto my observatory and hide out in my pool, completely nude at that! Where's your clothes?!"  
  
"Does it matter? You didn't have a problem with looking at me naked before, why do you have a problem now? What's changed?"  
  
"We broke up, that's what changed," he snapped in response to question. "What are you doing up here, Sakura?"  
  
"I came to see you. It's been a while since we last seen each other, hasn't it? I know you've missed me, and I know you must miss the wonderful times we shared together. You can't convince me that everytime you take a swim in this pool, you're not reminded of the rousing times we shared here. Remeber the first night we had underwater sex, Maximillion? Remeber how different it was? How fun?"  
  
"I remeber... perfectly..."  
  
"I know you do. It was an unforgettable night. Boy, you really rocked the joint under there. The water was sloshing, gurgling, and bubbling like mad, remember? There was bubbles everywhere.... You really gave it to me that night. That was some of the best sex we ever had while we were together," Sakura said softly. "And I know you miss it."  
  
She stared at Maximillion. "We could still be together, Maximillion, if you hadn't have cheated and slept with Cecilia. But, I'm not about to bring that up right now. That's not what I came here to talk about. I'm willing to give our relationship another try," she stated, her eyes fixed on his face.  
  
Maximillion's facial expression told Sakura that he didn't seem to be surprised at this. He had looked into her mind, using the magic of the Millenium Eye. "Yes, I see... I see it all. You long for me, don't you, Sakura?" he inquired.  
  
"Yes, I do," she replied rather innocently. "I want us to be together again, Maximillion. Our love was too great, too strong for us to simply let it fizzle out. Please... come back to me, dear," she pleaded, hoping that he would come back to her. She longed for him so much, the feelings were undescribable.  
  
"I feel it... you want me," Maximillion mused softly. "And I have an answer for you, Sakura..." his voice trailed off as he began to pull his suit jacket off. Sakura's lips slowly began to curve into a grin as she realized what Maximillion was doing. Maximillion pulled off his shoes and soxs, then began to pull up his shirt. He eyed Sakura seductively. Her facial expression was of completely joy, her eyes were shining radiantly with happiness. Maximillion took the shirt off, then stripped off his pants and underwear. Now he was naked, just like Sakura.  
  
"Maximillion..." Sakura began slowly, "Does this mean.. what I think it means?"  
  
"Well, what do you think it means, Sakura?"  
  
"I think it means that you want me just as much as I want you... if you didn't, you wouldn't have stripped down in front of me. Oh Maximillion, I knew all along that you still loved me. Deep down in your heart, I knew you felt love for me. Come here, honey, come ravage me!" she exclaimed.  
  
Maximillion immediately threw himself onto Sakura, kissing her rousingly. She moaned as she returned the favor, while beaming inside. She had done it. She cracked Maximillion! She knew that she loved her, and now that they were together again, nothing would bring them apart. All her dreams and fantasies about them were coming true! He loved her, much to her delight, which meant they could finally go away to that tropical island, stay there for eternity, and live together, forever. Her thoughts were broken when Pegasus suddenly pulled her underwater, but he was still kissing on her ravenously. Sakura kissed him back happily. The two began to frolick and roll around in the buoyant setting; the water gurgled, sloshed and bubbles appeared with their every movement. Sakura was extremely happy at this point. He was giving her underwater sex again! She had forgotten exactly how blissful it was, how satisfying, but all her delightful, ecstatic, jubilant emotions and dreams shattered when she felt Pegasus break the kiss, then proceeded to shove her away from him. She floated away from the man, stunned. What happened? Why did he... push her away? She stared at him in immense shock; he stared back at her sinisterly before gliding up to the surface. She followed him, and upon surfacing, she took in breaths of air.  
  
"What was that for? Maximillion, I thought you wanted me... you said you loved me," she spoke, shock evident in her voice.  
  
Maximillion simply chuckled, giving her an unnerving stare. It was as if he was looking through her exterior, and into her mind. "You really thought I wanted you back, Sakura?" he asked her in a taunting fashion, then laughed. "Are you out of your mind?! You must be seriously fucked up. To think that I would want you back, that's absurd! It's ridiculous! It's sad! You're sad, Sakura! Boy, I played you well, didn't I? You always said I was the world's best actor..." he giggled.  
  
"You bastard..." Sakura murmered, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.  
  
"Thank you very much for the comment, Sakura. I love it when people call me names. It means that I've successfully hurt them in some way, shape, or form!" he cackled in delight. "Heh, I'm still tripping off the fact that you thought I actually you wanted you back! Oh no, I don't leave a superior woman, then return to use and abused slums. You're nothing but a washed-up, used, two-bit tramp, Sakura! A useless troll who simply can't give me any kind of pleasure. You're an old, worn, torn hag, and to think that I want you..." Maximillion burst out into cruel laughter.  
  
Sakura began to break out into tears. She shook her head and shouted, "Stop it! Just stop, Maximillion, please.... stop ridiculing me. (Her voice begins to break) I can't stand it... I can't stand to hear you talk that way..."  
  
Maximillion laughed harder. "Oh! Now look at you, bawling like an infant! And you wonder why I don't want you... you're the most despicable woman I've ever seen!"  
  
"Why are you saying stuff like this?! What I have done to you, Maximillion?! I've done nothing, but given you everything I had! I gave all the love I could give! You were my all and all, Maximillion! Tell me, what have I done to make you say these awful things about me?!" she queried.  
  
"You were inferior, for one! Cecilia was a far better woman than you! Just think: There has to be some reason why I left you and got together with Cecilia."  
  
"I know the reason: Because you are a cold, soulless bitch whom I should've gotten over a long time ago!"  
  
"No, that's not the reason! The reason is because you were unsatisfying! I didn't get any hot love from you! You grew repetitious, stale! So, I left. I moved on, from the walking dead, to the living..."  
  
Sakura snickered. "Yeah, she isn't 'living' anymore," she remarked, her voice void of any sympathy.  
  
Maximillion's eyes grew wide. "How'd you know about that? We haven't seen each other for about a year. How would you know she was dead?" He didn't give her anytime to respond to that on her own, but instead, probed her mind with his Millenium Eye...  
  
(Flashback)  
  
It was around 11:30 PM. Cecilia could be seen walking down a dark, quiet street, which was hardly lit with any street lamps. The few cars that passed by had to rely soly on their headlights in order to the see the street in front of them. One car whizzed by her, causing her hair and her loose, white dress to blow slightly. She continued walking along the dark street, her destination being a nearby payphone. Cecilia's car had stopped on her. She didn't know a thing about cars, so she decided to call for a limo to take her back to Pegasus's mansion. Tomorrow, she would arrange for the car to be taken to a shop in order to be fixed. The main thing on her mind now was to get to the payphone. She began to walk more briskly. She was eager to go back to the warmeth and safety of the Pegasus estate, where her fiancee resided. For some strange reason, she was getting spooked. It was dark, there weren't many people around. She just had the odd feeling that she was being followed somehow, she couldn't shake the feeling. She began to walk faster, hoping that a payphone would rear its face sometime soon, as she had been walking for a while now. Another car could be seen approaching her from behind. As the car got closer, it began to slow down. Without warning, it suddenly turned off the road and onto the sidewalk, coming to a stop in front of her. The door swung open, and a masked figure got out, wielding a katana blade.  
  
"Aah!" Cecilia jumped in fear and held her hands in the air. She thought it was a mugger. "Please, what do you want?!"  
  
"To see you die." The voice sounded like it was trying to come out as a deep voice, but couldn't get that low.  
  
"Wha... ahh!!" Cecilia screamed as the figure began running toward her. She turned and darted away from the figure, panting heavily. "Help me! Somebody help me, please!!" she shouted as she ran.  
  
"There's no use in running, bitch, you won't escape my wrath!"  
  
Cecilia wondered who was it that was after her, but she wasted no time asking. She ran as fast as she could, heading for an abandoned shack in the distance. But, severe pain suddenly erupted in her back, forcing to scream in pain. Her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees. The figure had thrown the katana in her back. "Ohh..." she moaned.  
  
The figure chuckled as it kicked her, causing her to fall face-first onto the grass. It suddenly snatched the katana blade out of her back and laughed sinsterly.  
  
"I'm gonna enjoy watching you die, you two-cent, vapid whore," it spoke, eyeing the fallen woman.  
  
"Who are you? What... do you want.. with me?"  
  
"Funny you should ask that, because you've met me before," the figure used its foot to roll Cecilia onto her back. Cecilia winced and groaned in pain, then watched the figure pull off its mask. It was Sakura, whom she instantly recognized from the night when Sakura intruded on her and Pegasus's 'charade'.  
  
"You..."  
  
"Yeah, it's me, the woman whose man you stole from me. You snatched him away from me, you tramp. Took him right out of my arms! He loved me and you stole him from me!" she yelled, then kicked Cecilia in her stomach, making her cough and clutch her abdomen. "Rotten bitch.. just looking at you disgusts me, makes my stomach turn. You took my man from me, and I'm gonna enjoy taking you away from my man..." she threatened in an icy tone of voice.  
  
Fear simmered in Cecilia as realization dawned on her. She was going to kill her... she was about to die... "No! Please don't, please! Don't do this!"  
  
"How dare you beg for mercy, bitch!!!" Sakura yelled angrily while sharply kicking Cecilia in the abdomen again. "You should've thought about what would happened before you ran off and took my everything from me!! Some women don't take kindly to that, and I'm one of them!!" She kicked her again.  
  
Cecilia coughed while drawing up in pain. "I.. I didn't know... that he was yours. He didn't... tell me. He said he was single, I swear," she told Sakura, who didn't believe a word she said.  
  
"You worthless piece of shit! If you think you can use that lie to calm me down, you're fucking wrong! There's no way you're gonna get off the hook! This is payback for sleeping with my man!!" Sakura yelled, then reared back and stabbed through Cecilia's chest.  
  
"OHH!!" Cecilia yelped, then started gasping for air afterwards. Her breathing became labored. Blood began to run out of the hole constantly. Cecilia could feel her life draining away, she could literally feel death closing in on her, gnawing away at her life... slowly, constantly, relentlessly. She could feel the energy oozing out her system, much like the blood which flowed out of the wound. She couldn't stop it... she couldn't do anything... she was helpless... Time seemed to elapse very strangely for her. It seemed as if she was dying very quickly, yet so slowly that it seemed like every second was an eon passing by. The pain was excruitiating... devastating... her heart wasn't beating anymore. There was a hole in it, from where the katana blade punctured. Slowly, but surely, Cecilia laid there and died, staring up into the night sky. The last thing she thought about was Maximillion Pegasus...  
  
(End Flashback)  
  
Pegasus's eyes were wide as emotions began to build within him. The vision was so real, he literally felt what it was like while she died. He was awestruck... That's how it happened... Sakura murdered her. He remembered her body turning up sometime later, but she had been stripped, her body had been burned with acid, then torched (That was to erase all evidence). How it happened had been the deepest of mysteries... but now he knew. Sakura Avalon had done it... She took away the superior woman, the one who satisfied him; now she had the nerve to show up and try begging for his love.  
  
"You murderous bitch..." he spat bitterly, tears of his own beginning to fall. "You killed Cecilia."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I saw it... the whole thing, I saw it all... you chased her down, you stabbed her with a katana blade, and you let her die a slow, painful death, you punk-ass bitch... I'll kill you for this!!!!" he screamed in sorrow, then attacked Sakura, pushing her underwater. Sakura reached up and punched him in the gut, then snatched him underwater as well. She proceeded to punch him twice, but on the third punch, he caught her fist. He delivered a sharp kick to her chest, forcing to let out a gust air. Since she was submerged, it came out as a muffled groan, and bubbles blew out of her mouth. He pulled her closer to him, then landed a solid punch to her face, knocking her back a good distance. She recovered from this, and suddenly charged straight for him, swimming as fast she could. She rammed into his stomach head-first, which caused him to cough out a small gust of air (with bubbles) as well. She rammed him into the wall behind him, then laid into his face, delivering four jabs. He ducked down to the avoid the fifth blow, and her hand crashed into the wall instead. He manuvered himself into a tight ball, then thrusted his two legs into Sakura's face, knocking her back. He used the buoyancy to easily perform a flip back into a upright position. He began to swim back toward the surface for air. Sakura quickly grabbed both his legs and used her strength to snatch him toward her, then bit into his right leg.  
  
"Ahh!!" he screamed, but it was muffled and gurgly sounded. He kicked and squirmed until his left leg eventually whacked the side of Sakura's neck, forcing her to let go. He swum up to the surface and gasped for air as he emerged out of the water. Sakura also surfaced, taking in deep breaths of air.  
  
"You won't get away with this, Sakura!! I'm gonna kill you no matter what!!! You'll never get my love!!"  
  
"I don't want your motherfucking love anymore!!! I want you dead, you no- good son-of-a-bitch!! Get over here!!!" Apparently, Sakura was fed up with him. She charged for him, digging her fingernails into his face upon arriving face-to-face with him. She dug deep, making Pegasus scream. "How you like that?! How you like that, dick?!!" she yelled.  
  
Pegasus kicked her harshly in the chest, causing her to back off. She retorted by kicking him in the penis as hard as she could, which resulted in far greater pain. Pegasus moaned in agony as he began to sink. He wasn't concentrating on keeping himself afloat, but instead, he clutched his privates in pain. Sakura proceeded to push him under. She was about to submerge herself, then attempt to drown Pegasus, but she stopped. She didn't want him to drown. That'd be too quick. She wanted Pegasus to suffer, she wanted him to pay dearly for all the pain he caused her. Drowning would pretty entertaining, but not entertaining enough, and it wouldn't be as painful as brutal torture. Cutting his leg off with a chainsaw, then letting him die a slow, agonizing death would be much more satisfying. Sakura swam over to the ladder and climbed out of the jacuzzi/pool. Grabbing the parachute she had brought with her, she jumped off the roof. Pegasus was still underwater, trying to cope with the pain that came with getting his crotch kicked. He forced himself to swim up toward the surface. Upon emerging, he gasped for air and tried making his way over to the ladder in order to climb out. Sakura was going was pay for killing Cecilia...  
  
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Geoff: 2600 LP | Tommy: 700 LP  
  
So far, Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (ATK: 3500 DEF: 3850) was the strongest card on the field. Geoff's Tri-Horned Dragon had just been obliterated by it, and Geoff lost a large chunk of life points as a result, because Tri- Horned Dragon was in attack mode. Geoff knew there weren't many monsters in his deck that could withstand the might of Tommy's Magna Warrior. But he knew of one that could destroy it instantly... Exodia, The Forbidden One. If he could draw all the necessary cards, the duel would be finished easily. He just had to hold out long enough until he drew the cards. He reached out and drew a card, which turned out to be Lady Assailant of Flames. "I'll play Lady Assailant of Flames, in defense mode, and I'll play this magic card (pulls card from hand), Magical Hats!" Geoff slapped the cards onto the console, loading them into the duel. Four black hats with yellow question marks on them appeared. The Lady Assailant of Flames was covered up by them, and afterwards, the cards shuffled around at blazing speeds. Tommy had no idea which hat was protecting the Lady Assailant of Flames, and the fact that the hats looked exactly the same made it that much more harder to figure out which was the right one.  
  
"Now I'll have to depend on luck to help to me win, instead of relying on my dueling skills. That's the main reason why I hate Magical Hats," Tommy muttered to himself, then decided to strike. "Valkyrion, attack the hat to the far right now!"  
  
The strong, swift Magna Warrior wasted no time getting down to business. It charged for the far right hat, then used its electrically powered sword to slice through it. The energy flowed all around the hat, shocking relentlessly, until the severed hat exploded into pieces. But, alas, no monster was underneath. "Damn!"  
  
"Ha! That's one turn wasted, Tommy. You didn't take out my monster, and now, it's my turn again!" Geoff drew a card, hoping it would be another piece of Exodia. And it was! In his fingertips, he held the Right Leg of Exodia! All he needed now was the Right Arm, then he would be set. Since he had Magical Hats on the field, he decided to let Tommy play another guessing game, in hopes that he would waste another turn. "I choose to end my turn without playing any card."  
  
"All right, Geoff, this time I'm gonna get your monster! Valkyrion, attack the middle hat!!" Tommy ordered. Valkyrion powered up its sword again and charged for the middle hat. It reached out and stabbed through the hat, shocking it with the energy. The hat couldn't withstand the attack any longer and shattered violently. Had Tommy successfully found the Lady Assailant of Flames? The answer was revealed when he saw that there was no monster underneath the hat.  
  
"Another turn wasted, Tommy," Geoff said while smirking. He pulled up a card, but frowned when it wasn't the last Exodia piece. It was Guardian of the Throne Room. He played it in defense mode, hiding it underneath one of the two remaining hats.  
  
A grin formed on Tommy's face. "All right! No matter which hat I attack now, I am guaranteed the destruction of one monster, because the two remaining hats both have a monster underneath! Geoff, one of your monsters is finished! Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior, attack the left hat, now!!" Tommy yelled in glee. His monster immediately powered up the sword once again and charged for the left hat. It stabbed through it, and the hat combusted into pieces. Lady Assailant of Flames was underneath, and it shrieked when Valkyrion's sword pierced through its torso while releasing electrical energy into her body. She exploded into pieces soon afterwards, and Geoff frowned.  
  
"Shit! If Tommy had've attacked Guardian of the Throne Room, I could've drawn a card from my deck, and that would've been three draws after I placed the Lady on the field, meaning I could've inflicted 800 points of direct damage on Tommy, finishing him off. Now, I have to draw Exodia, or at least a magic card that'll weaken the overwhelming strength of Tommy's Magna Warrior," Geoff spoke to himself while drawing a card, which turned out ot be... "My Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he exclaimed quietly. "As powerful as it is, it still can't take down Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior. It's probably best if I hold onto it for now."  
  
Geoff decided to pull Magical Hats out of play, since there was only one hat left, and within that hat resided Guardian of the Throne Room. The hat dissappeared, leaving the monster out in the open. "And that ends my turn."  
  
"Well, since I've successfully disposed of your stupid hats, I guess I'll take the time to draw a card," said Tommy as he did so. He was pleased at the result, and played a monster card face-down in defense. "I'll end my turn and pass control over to you, Geoff."  
  
Geoff started to grow a little confused. Why didn't Tommy take out his monster? That was the most logical choice of action. After he took it out, Geoff wouldn't have any monster left defending him, and on his next turn, he could've attacked with Valkyrion and destroyed him, that is, assuming Geoff didn't play a monster to protect himself.  
  
"And what's up with that face-down monster? What would be the point in playing that? I got a rather strange feeling about it, but I don't want to leave it on the field either. It could be an effect card that acts similar to Lady Assailant of Flames. To be sure I have enough attack strength, I'd better play my Blue Eyes."  
  
Geoff pulled the card out of his hand. "Now, I call forth the mighty Blue Eyes White Dragon, in attack mode!" He slammed the card onto a slot, bringing the massive beast to life. It roared while materializing onto the field, staring at Tommy.  
  
ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500  
  
"Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack Tommy's face-down monster card now! White Lightning Attack!!" The Blue Eyes roared before charging up a huge ball of lightning in its mouth, then aimed it at Tommy's face-down monster and fired. The lightning ball plundered into the face-down monster, which resulted in a large explosion; fierce winds blew against Tommy. When the smoke settled, the holocard was not destroyed, but instead, it was glowing.  
  
"What the..."  
  
"Guess what, Geoff? The monster card you attacked was Kiseitai! And now I'm activating it's special ability! When Kiseitai is attacked in face-down defense position, I am allowed to equip it onto the monster who attacked, which is in this case, your Blue Eyes White Dragon. Afterwards, whenever your standby phases come about, my life points are increased by half of your monster's attack strength!" Tommy announced happily, then he proceeded to laugh afterwards.  
  
"Fuck, I knew I shouldn't have attacked that card!" Geoff spat and frowned.  
  
Kiseitai attached itself to Blue Eyes White Dragon, and Tommy ended his turn, causing control to be passed back to Geoff. At that moment, Kiseitai and Blue Eyes glowed a brilliant white, signifying that the effect was underway.  
  
Tommy's Life Points - 2200  
  
Tommy laughed even more. "Thought it was over, hunh Geoff? The score is nearly tied now, and that was supposed to be impossible! When your turn comes back around next time, I'll be in the lead!" he exclaimed joyfully.  
  
"If I'm lucky, this'll be my last turn," Geoff told him, then drew a card from his deck. But it wasn't the final Exodia piece. Geoff's frustration began to grow as he switched Blue Eyes White Dragon to defense mode, then passed control back to Tommy.  
  
"Valkyrion, destroy's Geoff's Guardian of The Throne Room, now!" Tommy beckoned. His monster powered up the sword, then charged for Guardian of The Throne Room. Upon reaching striking distance, the warrior stabbed through the torso of Geoff's monster, releasing it's electricity into its body. Guardian of The Throne Room convulsed violently while screaming in pain. It erupted into pieces shortly afterwards, but since it was in defense mode, Geoff's didn't lose any life points. It was now Geoff's turn. Directly after his turn arrive, the Blue Eyes White Dragon glowed, along with Kiseitai, signifying that Tommy's life points were about to rise.  
  
Tommy's Life Points - 3700  
  
Geoff didn't worry about it. As soon as he drew Exodia, it wouldn't matter how many life points Tommy had. Exodia would thoroughly obliterate them all, along with any monsters Tommy placed on the field. He reached down, drew a card, and pulled it up toward his face. It wasn't Exodia, so Geoff discarded the card.  
  
"I'll pass control back to you, Tommy," he proclaimed reluctantly.  
  
"Hmmm... let's see here. If I attack your Blue Eyes, and you don't draw a monster card on the next turn, then I'm free to attack your life points directly, therefore winning the duel. But, if you do get a monster, I will have destroyed the only way of increasing my life points. What a tough decision. Should I kill the dragon, or should I let it remain alive so it can continue to feed me 1500 life points?" Tommy pondered the thought for a moment, then said, "I'll let your Blue Eyes live. Control passes back to you, Geoff, and you know what happens next."  
  
The monsters glowed a brilliant white again, meaning that Kiseitai's effect had activated again.  
  
Tommy's Life Points- 5200  
  
"Wow! Would you look at that, Geoff?! I've recovered all 4000 of my life points, and then some! Things are definitely looking great, for me that is, isn't it?" he asked, chuckling afterwards.  
  
Geoff sighed heavily and began to think. [I have got to draw Exodia this time around. It's about time this match came to an end, and this may be the only way for me to win the match.] Geoff pulled up the card, hoping it was the last piece of Exodia. He pulled it up to his face, and it turned out being... a weak monster card.  
  
[Fuck! I don't need this, I need The Right Arm of Exodia!] Geoff discarded the card and ended his turn.  
  
"No move, hunh? Well, I've got a couple move to make. I wonder... should I allow your Blue Eyes to live, or should I destroy it? I'd like to keep getting 1500 life points, but if I destroy your Blue Eyes, and you don't come up with a monster card, I can destroy you. Hmm... what should I do? Both plans sound good, but I'm willing to try the plan that involves destroying your Blue Eyes! Go, Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior, use your powerful sword to destroy Blue Eyes White Dragon!!" Tommy commanded.  
  
Valkyrion powered up its sword once more and made a charge for the dragon. It thrusted its sword right into the chest of the dragon, and released a powerful discharge of energy. The dragon reared back, roaring in pain. Valkyrion continued its vicious assault on the creature, which eventually led to an implosion; The dragon erupted into smoke and ash.  
  
"Well, that was certainly entertaining," Tommy commented with a smile.  
  
Geoff frowned and drew another card. And to his surprise, it was the final piece of Exodia! He held all five pieces in his hand! His frown turned upside-down, and his lips curved into a smile. "Tommy, I must admit, you were a great duelist, and you certainly put up a good fight. You dueled valiantly, you never gave up, you fought a honorable, clean duel, but now... I hold in my hand the cards that'll destroy your mighty Magna Warrior, and it'll destroy you in the process!" he announced.  
  
"What?!" Tommy gasped, alarmed by this. "What do you mean?!  
  
"This is what I mean, Tommy! Allow me to place these five cards onto the field, and bring forth... the ultimate monster of destruction... the unstoppable Exodia, the Forbidden One!!" Geoff slammed the five cards onto the card slots. Tommy's eyes were wide as the ground began to rumble and shake.  
  
"What's happening..." he murmered, his voice barely above a whisper. All of his confidence, his valiant demeanor had dissappeared.  
  
"My ultimate creature is awakening, that's what happening, Tommy. And there's nothing you, or your Magna Warrior, can do to stop it. Exodia is completely indestructible, and is invulnerable to all magic, traps, or special abilities! No monster can stand up to its might! Now, Exodia, come forth and show your ultimate power!!!" Geoff shouted proudly.  
  
The ground shook even more as brilliant green light began shining on Geoff's side of the field. The pieces of Exodia slowly began to hook themselves together. Geoff laughed triumphantly as light engulfed the field. The audience gasped in complete awe as the rumbling intensified until the pieces attached together, forming the god. His eyes glowed a bright red; he stared at Tommy and his Magna Warrior. Valkyrion clutched its sword, preparing itself, while Tommy stared at the monster in disbelief.  
  
"I... I was so close... to victory.... but with Exodia on the field... I don't.... stand a chance..." his voice trailed off.  
  
"Exodia, unleash your infinite power!! OBLITERATE!!!!" Geoff screamed. The monster laughed maliciously as it powered up an enormous ball of energy in its hand, then reared back and hurled at Tommy's side of the field with an unbelievable force. The ball was large enough to cover Tommy's entire field.  
  
"AAHH!!!" Tommy hollered in fear as the ball collided onto the ground, erupting in a devastating, ear-ringing explosion. Winds blew everywhere as Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior's pieces could be seen flying in several directions. Tommy was thrown a few feet away by the force of the winds. The audience was, to say the least, astonished by this. Geoff smirked in satisfaction as smoke covered the field.  
  
Geoff: 2600 LP | Tommy: 0000 LP  
  
The smoke finally dissipated after about thirty seconds. The Magna Warrior was completely obliterated; there was no trace of it, except for small trails of smoke rising into the air from where Valkyrion was last scene. Tommy had slid near the end of the arena, and was lying on his back, staring up at the glass top of the dome. He had lost. He fought as hard as he could, but in the end, Geoff blew him out, literally. NO monster in his deck were a match for Exodia, the Forbidden One. It was over now, though, and the best he could do was learn from the experience, and try to become a better duelist.  
  
Geoff walked over to the young boy and extended a hand. "Hey, kid, good duel," he complimented. Tommy smiled, then grabbed his hand and pulled himself onto his feet.  
  
"Same here, and it was a true honor dueling against you, Geoff. You're awesome."  
  
"Thanks," Geoff was flattered.  
  
"And the winner of this duel is.. Geoff Okasinski!!" the announcer announced. The crowd gave both Geoff and Tommy robust applause as they walked toward the teleporters, preparing to teleport back to the Duelist Prepping Area.  
  
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Misty stepped off the shuttle bus, her destination: Utopian Twin Towers, which was two twin-towers standing side by side. It was a hotel resort, the one in which Seto Kaiba resided. She had bumped into him after her duel, and they told each other where they would be staying. She thought it would be nice to talk to him, considering they hadn't talked in a while. Plus, she had a favor to ask of him. He had lots of resources and power at his disposal. It was entirely possible that he might be able to help her find a cure for her sisters and John. Time was ticking, and she couldn't afford to waste any time trying to win the tournament. It was highly possible that she could get far in the tournament rankings, only to lose to someone more powerful that she is. And quite a bit of time would've passed by. If there is a slight possibility that he could help, she knew he would. They were best friends; they've known each other for a long time. If he couldn't help her, then the tournament would be her last resort. She sighed deeply, then started walked toward the entrance of the second building. The doors slid open automatically, creating a clean path into the lavish building. She walked through, then approached a small desk with a computer sitting on it. A woman was sitting behind the desk.  
  
"Um, excuse me," she spoke, gaining the woman's attention. "Is there a 'Seto Kaiba' staying at this hotel? I'm a friend of his."  
  
The woman began pulling up files on the computer. She did this for a few moments, then replied, "Yes, he is. He's on the eighth floor, room 900," she answered in a professional manner.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Minutes passed before Misty finally figured out how to navigate the confusing structure. She teleported up to the eighth floor, then began walking down the granite hallways, looking for room 900. After walking for a while, she finally arrived at her destination. She approached the wooden door, knocked on it, then waited for a little while. No one answered, so she knocked again.  
  
"Seto?" Misty called. She knocked once more, but still didn't get an answer. "Hmm, maybe he's not here right now," Misty said to herself. She started to leave, but that's when something caught her eye. The door was slightly cracked open. It was barely noticeable, but the door was still slightly opened, nonetheless. A confused frown appeared on Misty's face as she slowly pushed the door open, then walked into the white living room. That's when she heard someone talking. It was more like a whisper, she couldn't make out what it was saying.  
  
"Seto?" she mused quietly. She made a mental note not to say anything else. If there was an intruder in the house, she didn't want them to hear her. She crept quietly toward the source of the whispering voice, hoping the floor wouldn't make any creaking noise. Who was that? Was it Seto, or someone else? Misty eased her way through the suite, getting closer and closer to the voice. It began to get more audible and understandable as she got closer. She approached the entertainment room, which is where the voice was coming from. The door was open, so she stood against the wall, beside the opening, in order to stay out of sight. She decided to listen to the voice, trying to make out what it was saying. Now that she was so close, she could hear it perfectly.  
  
"Oh shit, what do I do, what do I do?" Pacing footsteps could be heard, and the voice sounded like Seto. "I had no idea she would be here. I thought she had got kicked out of the Sub-Competition! She had gotten kicked out! Mai beat her in that all-out match, and took all her stars away from her. So how the fuck is she here, at the Crystal Kingdom?" he was asking himself.  
  
[Is he... is he talking about me?] Misty was baffled. [Unless that uppity cow has eliminated someone else, then he must be talking about me. He sounds as if he is upset at my presence, as if he doesn't want me to be here... but why? What's the meaning of all this? I don't get it.]  
  
Seto sighed heavily, looking down at the wooden floor. "This doesn't make any sense at all. I saw Mai beat Misty in that duel. I saw.. all the drama, everything. Misty's stars were taken from her, so how did she get here? Even if someone won the stars back for her, she wouldn't be able to use them, because the stars wouldn't be hers, technically. The stars would belong to the person that won them. That security feature Pegasus installed on the stars should have prevented her from ever getting back into that tournament. But, alas, she's here, she's spoken to me once." He sighed again, rubbing his forehead. "This is bad. Misty has a chance to win the tournament, and if that happens, I'm sunk. I infected the four to keep them silent, but if Misty wins the tournament, she'll have enough money to pay the old wench (Yelola), who will proceed to find a cure and cure them. And if that happens, those damn sisters of hers will tell about everything. I've beat up John, stole from him, stabbed Daisy.. nearly killed her, which will be construed as assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. I've got to make sure she doesn't win the tournament! My life will not be ruined by those bitches!" he shouted in anger.  
  
Misty's eyes were huge. She was seriously shocked and thrown. She couldn't believe what she just heard... Seto was behind it all? He infected her sisters (and John) with a deadly disease? It wasn't just a random strain of viral infection they contracted. He gave it to them, in order to silence them and cover up his crimes! Her best friend was... her worst enemy...  
  
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Episode Written By: GateGuardian 3500.  
  
That's a wrap, folks. That's it for today episode. Only two more episodes left until this season ends. The next update will be the first part of the Season Finale event, and I promise you, it's gonna be good... ^_^. I hope I can upload the next episode pretty quickly, though I doubt it. I'll try uploading it as fast as I can. Well, I don't really have anything else to say. I hope you liked the episode, and please send me feedback! I'd appreciate it. 


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